Black and White
by Legend Maker
Summary: It all begins here. The Titans will meet a new metahuman who will join them, and mark a beginning to their greatest challenges, triumphs, and tragedies. For while youth is fleeting, heroism is forever.
1. Savior: Stranger In A Strange Land

_**Black and White**_

Writer's Post Story Note: This story once contain song lyrics but due to a later ban by this website on such things, they have been removed. Since some of them featured heavily into the story, this will lead to jarring gaps. I apologize, but there is nothing I can do. On the tops of chapters I will place SR for Song Removed if there is a gap where a song once was. **

* * *

**  
Chapter 1: Stranger In a Strange Land

_Teen Titans.__ Fitting name, and not just because of their age. This whole setup bears the certain particular brand of irresponsibility that teenagers live with. Forget a well-hidden cave or fortress on the moon, let's just build a building shaped like a big T! Surely this will prevent any possible sneak attacks!_

_Then again, this is a group that goes out into the public IN COSTUME to have fun. Not very wise if you ask me._

_Still, I don't want a to pick a fight with them. I'm not a bad guy, and besides I'm far too inexperienced. But I have no idea how long these powers may last. I want to try and do at least ONE thing before I possibly lose them. But to do that, I need Robin._

_He's there, I know it. I've seen him coming and going with his companions. But considering who he is, he has to head off alone eventually._

_Back to __Gotham_

_Back to his mentor._

_And as long as I am a meta-human, I want to at least see Batman with my own eyes._

_I never really longed to be "special", but as long as I am, I may as well live out a dream or two._

_Perhaps my name is too pretentious though…

* * *

_

"You know, being part robot, I thought you would be, you know, in kin with your fellow kind or something…" Timothy Drake said, his masked face a picture in concentration as he ran Cyborg's latest challenge to his video game supremacy into the ground.

"Shaddup!" Victor Stone snapped, as he tried to get back in the lead. A rear-dropped bomb weapon from Robin's car pretty much smashed any hope he had of that. He growled and resisted the urge to sonic-cannon blast the TV and system, but that would just result in them having to get a new one.

Garfield Logan, in the form of a bat, hung from the ceiling, watching with great amusement. He always liked it when Cyborg lost: his reactions were priceless and since he, Beast Boy, usually lost to Victor he rarely saw them. Even if he DID win, Victor laughed it off as a fluke. The best moment he had ever seen was when Robin had mounted a comeback and beaten Victor once again a few weeks ago and Victor had launched into a stream of insults in what Gar though may have been "Ebonics", talking about how he was going to "Forshizzle's Tim's nizzle in the drizzle" or something, and a few other sentences Gar thought had to be gibberish. Victor had been put in his place though, when an annoyed Raven had looked over from her mirror and calmly asked "What the fizzuck are you saying?" Both he and Tim had nearly died laughing.

And Tim won the day again, though Victor refrained from using any words ending in "izzle" to indicate his displeasure. Tim was about to say something in return when something on his belt beeped and he stopped, withdrawing a com link.

"Sorry Victor, Batman's calling. We'll have to pick this up later." Robin said, as he vaulted off the couch and ran out the door.

Victor made a noise of annoyance and got up.

"Cheer up Cyborg" Garfield said as he floated down and transformed back into his humanoid form. "You know how Batman runs him ragged."

"While the thought of a run ragged Tim is amusing, don't forget the reason Robin is leader is because he IS Batman's protégé." Victor said, rubbing his head. Batman had dropped in once to get Tim for something, and he clearly disapproved of the lifestyle they tended to lead. It took a lot to scare Victor, but Batman's glare had done it all too easily.

"FRIENDS!" Came a sudden joyful female yell. Cyborg and Beast Boy would have jumped, if such exclamations hadn't become all too common. Kory Anders aka Starfire bounded in with some plates.

"I have been practicing my Earth cooking! Behold! Breakfast! Shredded swine flesh and fried chicken embryos!" Kory said joyfully, thrusting her cooked food at the two.

"Uh Star, first of all, you make DINNER, not breakfast at this time of day, and also, that's BACON and EGGS…aw man, how many poor pigs died for this..." Garfield moaned, looking at the piles of fried meat strips.

"Do not worry Friend Garfield! I have learned enough of your tofu to use it to mimic the bacon for you! Though the fake eggs did not come out as well...I did not believe food could scream..." Starfire said sadly.

"Some of this is tofu?" Cyborg said incredulously. He couldn't see any difference, even when Kory pointed it out. Gar hesitantly tried a strip of indicated tofu bacon. He would have hesitated MORE, but after trying some of Kory's alien cooking, human food, even made by her, didn't seem so scary.

"Mmmm, on the other hand you actually got this done pretty good!"

"Yeah! Nice work Star!" Victor said as he tried some (real) bacon.

Kory beamed.

"Where is Raven? She should have some too!"

"Still out. I think Robin got a message that she'll be back soon…mmmmm crispy…" Garfield said as he helped himself to more (fake) bacon.

* * *

Robin strolled out to his motorcycle and got it started, his cape billowing in the wind as he took off. He wondered what Bruce needed him for. 

Intent on his driving and what his trainer wanted, Robin didn't see the white figure remove himself from the position he had been on the T-Tower and throw out what appeared to be a white rope, swinging after Robin as he drove.

* * *

_Ah, finally! He's heading to __Gotham__. Now all I need to do is find enough buildings and automobiles to keep him in sight…_

_Man, I can see why Spider-Man has so much fun, this swinging is a blast! And that's just one of the many things Shimmer can do. Now I wonder…WHOOPS!_

The figure in white had mis-timed a throw and missed the building he was going to use as his next swing point, and gravity immediately reminded him that defying it came with a cost as he fell towards a wall.

"YIKES!"

The figure snapped out his right arm and what looked like a white energy "rope" flew from it, twisting around into a spiral shape as the wall loomed up.

The coil hit the wall and bent in, and then sprang away, pushing the figure away from the wall. Problem was, he was still falling.

The figure retracted his arm and then slammed it forward, and the coil of white energy untangled and shot upward at great speed. It reached the top of the building and twisted, forming a crude hook on the roof.

The figure stopped dead, and then the white energy spasmed like a snapped rubber band and yanked him upward, like a bungee jump. The figure flew up past the roof and the white energy twisted, changing his direction and flinging him through the air in Robin's direction. It then removed itself from the building and snapped past the figure to grab it's next foothold, allowing him to swing on past Robin.

"Be more careful Noel." The figure chastised himself as he continued in his pursuit.

* * *

Robin drove out of the city and got on the freeway towards Gotham. The costumed boy driving a red-painted supercharged attracted more then a little attention. The figure it white leaping from truck to truck (with an occasional car in between) attracted more. Unfortunately(?) for Robin, it didn't attract his attention during the 45 minute drive, as he finally took an off ramp and headed for Gotham. 

A somewhat tired figure kept his pursuit, hoping Robin would stop and go onto a building and mimic his mentor by brooding or imitating a gargoyle or doing ANYTHING that made him stand still for a bit.

* * *

Edward Nygma, aka the conundrum spouting Riddler, said it best when he said "When is a man a city? When is a city a man?" in describing what Gotham and it's resident protector were like. A sprawling mass of dark stone and black metal that whispered of secrets and atrocities and marvels that very few normals ever saw. It seethed with the danger of darkness, and yet it reverated with the mystery and thrills that attracted so many people to the darkness. More then a few regretted their attraction, but there would always be more. 

In a way, this black city was home for Tim. His father was here, some of his fellow vigilante allies as well, and of course his mentor, whose shadow somehow cast a deeper darkness still. But at the same time it repelled him, whispered to him of the horrors he had seen Batman's many lunatic enemies commit. He hoped the Joker hadn't broke out of Arkham again. The "Clown Prince of Crime" had a habit of mistaking Tim for Jason Todd, the second Robin, who the Joker had murdered, and he tended to go for Tim with a scary intensity, promising that this time he would "stay dead!". Tim shuddered inwardly.

He stopped his motorbike and pressed a few buttons. Roughly several seconds after he got off it, the bike's myriad of super high tech systems would activate and provide the bike with several powerful abet non-lethal defenses in case anyone tried to steal it.

Robin was wondering if Batman would seek him out or contact him with more information when he heard it. It was a very small noise, but Batman had taught him well to determine what type of barely heard noises were bad or not, and this one set off his danger sense.

With blinding speed, his hand flew to his belt and extracted a "Birdarang", his own version of his mentor's "Batarang", as he spun and threw it at a nearby roof. There was a noise of surprise and then a flash of white as a figure came tumbling down from the roof. The Birdarang flew back into Tim's hand as the figure did one last spin and landed, on his feet.

"The next throw cracks your skull." Robin said, his muscles tensing in case he had to make that throw.

"Huh. So you detected me. I guess there's more of your mentor in you then I thought. Relax Robin, I am not your enemy." The figure said as he stood up, hands at his sides to show he didn't have a weapon.

Robin's eyebrow arched. He though, with his red and green outfit, that he stuck out like a sore thumb in the shadows of Gotham. But THIS guy…

He looked to be a little older then Tim, and all he wore was white. Wait, scratch that, his shirt was a light blue. But besides that, white. White boots, white jeans, and a white leather jacket. To top it off, literally, his hair was pure snow white. Also, it was in a strange styled that looked like it required a ton of gel, standing up off his head in spiked locks. The hair reminded Tim of DBZ.

"Ok, if you're not my enemy, why are you following me?"

"I have an explanation. Put the weapon down, please?" Whiteman said. His eyes actually showed a touch of playful pleading, as if he wasn't taking Robin very seriously. Well, that would be HIS problem if he went that course.

"I'll take my chances."

"Ok. I would assume you are Robin."

"One of my teammates isn't here, so I will make the comment she surely would have made. My lord, your mental prowess is absolutely staggering! I am floored you could make such a deduction!" Robin said, doing his best Raven impression.

"Ha ha, cute. It's habit. Robin, I am following you because I want to meet your teacher."

"Batman?" Robin said incredulously. "He ain't exactly the social type, you know."

"So I gathered. But I've read of his work since I was young, and as a fledging, well, human with enhanced abilities, I just wanted to see if I could meet the greatest superhero of all." Whiteman said, his eyes betraying just a tad bit of hero worship.

"Well if that's the case, why didn't you just knock on the door and ask me?" Robin said, finally lowering his Birdarang. He sensed no malice in this man in white's intentions. Then again, if he was wrong and he turned out to be another agent from H.A.E.Y.P or something, he would give him a sound thrashing.

"Because you would call him to ask, and he would say no because he's BATMAN. I've read the few superheroes' who have met him and written book's books. He's so aloof he's…uh…hey, you've gotta be smart to be Batman's protégé! What's an acronym for "aloof"?"

"Uhhhhhhh…" Robin puzzled.

"Never mind. In any case that wouldn't have worked. So I figured I could follow you when you headed back here and arrange a "chance" meeting with Batman, you know "oh hello just passing through…" that kind of thing."

"Why not just go to Gotham and do that by yourself?"

"Because if you're going somewhere Batman is sure to be nearby! If I did this alone I could be running around this city for WEEKS before anything happened."

"Aren't you a little old for hero worship?" Robin teased, his mood lightening.

"This from the guy who I heard fainted the first time he met Superman."

"Hey! I did not faint from the meeting! We'd just had a big battle and I was pretty worn out and…" Robin's protest was interrupted as his com link beeped. "Hold on you, and don't come over here! Or, well, use your imagination!" Robin said as he answered.

"Robin, are you in Gotham yet?" said a dark and cold voice from the com link.

"Yes sir."

"Good. I was calling you because of an elusive group of violent carjackers has been causing me some trouble, I wanted some more hands on it to wrap it up as soon as possible, but when I originally contacted you I had just received a key clue from Oracle. I tracked them down and am in pursuit. Can you intercept?"

"Where are you?"

"On 4th and Main, head north."

"Oh dear, I'm pretty far away…"

"Try anyway!" came a final curt command, and then the link went dead.

"Nice guy." Whiteman muttered.

"Damn, I'm pretty far from his location and the streets are a maze in this area…" Robin said, partly to the man in white and partly to himself. 'I wish I brought Starfire, she could have flown me there…"

"You need to get somewhere quickly? Maybe I can help." The man in white said.

"What can you do? Fly? Teleport?" Robin asked.

"Almost as good. Hold on."

The man in white raised his right arm and suddenly what looked like a white rope of energy flew from his palm and at Robin. Robin nearly smacked the guy with his birdarang again before the energy wrapped around him. But it didn't tie him up, rather it wrapped under his armpits and knees in a crude harness. Then it lifted him up, gently and easily. Robin kept his birdarang at the ready in case the guy had waited all this time to try something funny.

"Want me to grab your bike too?" Whiteman was asking.

"Carry it as well? How much can you lift?"

"At most, about seven tons, but only for a few seconds if it's that heavy, But can carry you and your bike easy enough for half an hour or so…"

"Explain your powers later! Just get me to 4th and Main!"

"Which way is it?"  
"THAT WAY!" Robin said, pointing, wondering if he was giving the orders or being carted around like an infant.

"Gotcha."

The white energy rope had come out of the palm of the man in white's right hand suddenly shifted, the emergence point suddenly shifting and literally moving down the man's arm and to his shoulder, so that the rope that held Tim now emerged from the man's back. The man trust out his hands, and twin new coils of white energy rope shot out, flying out and grabbing a grip onto the nearest roof structures.

"Hey, I never asked, what the heck is your NAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMEEEEEEEE!" Robin yelled as the ropes suddenly retracted and literally yanked the man and Robin upward and into the air like a giant slingshot. The two flew up above the roofs of Gotham.

"Whoa! Nice trick!"

"Coming from the great Robin, that's a real honor. Which way?" Whiteman said, as gravity began to take over and the two's ascent stopped.

"That way!" Robin said, pointing.

Whiteman snapped out a new coil of energy and half-swung half-pulled himself across several city blocks, using the ropes to form swings, grappling hooks, slingshots and all sorts of other things as he went in the way Robin pointed. There was a scary moment where he missed a toss and the two began to fall, but the man in white merely formed a coil beneath him as a spring and bounced off the ground, throwing out another coil and grabbing hold of his next target.

"Sorry, I'm still kinda new at this." Whiteman apologized.

Tim would have felt worse if he had been moving more, but unlike Whiteman, who was flipping and twisting and spinning with the aid of his "ropes" as he ran and jumped where Tim told him too, his position stayed solidly fixed. The rope that held him up moved around Whiteman's body to keep from getting tangled.

In a lot shorter amount of time then it would have taken Tim to drive there, the two were at 4th and Main. In fact, they had gotten there so quick that Tim had misjudged exactly where Batman might have, and instead of arriving at where he current was they arrived in front of him. Tim had a moment of semi-panic as he tried to puzzle out where Batman was, and then he heard the cars as they headed his way.

There had originally been four cars, but the Batmobile had already disabled two of them by the time Robin and the still-unnamed Whiteman had arrived. One of the remaining two was causing him some trouble though, as several punks were hanging out the window firing weapons on him. Batman himself wasn't in danger (nothing short of a surface to surface missile was going to put a dent in the Batmobile) but Batman couldn't just drive head-on into the storm of bullets and have a ricochet go through a wall and into some sleeping person's head. So he used evasive techniques, which slowed him down as he and the remaining two cars blasted down the road.

"Hey, can you get me onto that second car?" Robin asked.

"Your wish is my command!" Whiteman said as he grabbed a nearby chimney with energy rope thing and swung out with Robin, the strand that held Robin extending him towards the car. The harness unwrapped and let Robin go as he yanked out his metal fighting staff.

As Robin landed on the firing car's roof and began knocking guns out of hands and kicking teeth down punk's throats, the man in white landed on the first car, the one in the lead.

"Hope you have air bags!" he said as he snapped out a length of his rope, which twisted around and smashed through the driver's side window. A second later another length smashed through the roof itself, and as the punks yelled in surprise and tried to get their guns up the second strand anchored the man in white to the roof even as his first grabbed the steering wheel and twisted it hard to the side. The vehicle did a sharp turn and, as Whiteman leapt to safety, drove into the wall.

Whiteman landed and shot out another length. The lone "rope" suddenly split into several separate strands that flew in separate directions. Four looped around the car and then effortless lifted it, and then three more reached around and opened the door as Whiteman turned the car on its side in mid-air and shook it like a salt shaker, causing the punks inside to fall out amidst a storm of surprised curses.

Whiteman, his energy rope whipping wildly around, walked over as the punks got up. They tried to aim their guns as him.

The rope, as if alive, lashed out, slapping the guns out of two punk's hands before it split and each strand lanced to the side of each punk's head.

"Meeting of the minds." Whiteman said as the strands shoved the punk's heads together with a satisfying _KLONK!_ He spun as the rope retracted and then lashed it under another punk's legs.

"Have a nice trip." Whiteman said as he yanked the thug's legs out from under him. "See you next fall." He added as he did the same to the forth punk. "Yeah, they're terrible puns, but you don't deserve the good stuff."

Punk 4 began getting up.

"Are you still standing?"

The energy rope lashed out like a whip, catching the punk on the side and hitting him so hard he flew into a nearby pile of garbage ten feet away.

"Garbage with gar…" Whiteman said he heard a CLICK.

Punk 3 was back up, and he had a gun, and he was about to squeeze the trigger…

At least before a Batarang smashed into his head, square between the eyes, throwing him backwards as the gun fired into the air. Whiteman exhaled in relief and turned around.

Robin retracted his staff as he landed next to his mentor, his foes taken care of as well.

"Friend of yours?" Batman asked, looking at Robin as the man in white stared at the Dark Knight Detective in momentary awe.

"Kinda. He followed me here because he wanted to meet you."

Batman's eyes narrowed.

"Hey, I just found this out two minutes ago!" Robin said as he threw his hands up.

"Fine. Sorry I brought you here Robin, I made a slight error in judgment."

"Everyone's entitled to them." Robin said, and then shrank back a bit as his teacher gave him a hard look. "Except you of course."

"Excuse me…sir…"

Robin and Batman looked back at the man in white who had aided them. He had approached them and was looking at Batman nervously.

"I know you are very very territorial and don't like to socialize with your fellow, uh, heroes, but I was just wondering if I could please shake your hand, sir?" Whiteman said in a stammering rush.

Batman gave him a hard look, and then offered his hand. The man in white shook it quickly.

"Thank you sir. I will now do exactly what you would want and leave your city." Whiteman said, and turned away.

Robin actually thought he saw a slight smile on Bruce's face. It was small and fleeting, but there, definitely there.

"He's got potential." Batman said, and then turned away. "You can return to your friends now if you wish."

"Um, ok Batman. Call me if you need me…" Robin said, but his mentor was already ignoring him. Typical. He turned and headed after the man in white.

"Thank you Robin. I appreciate this. Do you want me to carry you back…"

"Oh no…" Robin said with a wicked look as he held up a small device. "Don't bother."

A few moments later the motorcycle drove around the corner, by itself, and stopped at Robin's side.

"Remote controlled. Very nice. Well, sorry to bother you…" Whiteman said as he turned to leave.

"Hey wait." Robin said. If Bruce, who was possibly the harshest judge in the WORLD when it came to costumed heroes, thought this guy had potential. "How old are you?"

"17."

"Well then…you wanna come back to the Tower?"

"Your Tower? You mean you'd…?" Whiteman said, his extreme fanboyish attitude he had displayed with Batman coming back a tad.

"Heck, I won't make any PROMISES…" Robin said in a teasing tone. "But at the least we could always use a new sucker, I mean RECRUIT!"

"………….Ok then. Sure, I'll come." The man in white said.

"Ok look look, before anything, we have to get properly introduced. I, as you already know, am Robin. Who are you?"

The man in white chuckled.

"What's in a name? That which we…"

"Can the Shakespeare or I'll leave you here and on top of that I'll drive over your foot."

"Sorry."

The man in white offered Robin his hand.

"I'm Savior."

Robin arched an eyebrow.

"Savior?"

"Yes, and this…" Savior said, as the white energy rope suddenly snapped out of his palm and twisted around him before it's "end" came to float in front of Robin's face. "Is the Shimmer. I think it's semi-sentient, so you might as well say hello to it too."

"Oh. Well hello Savior. Hello…the Shimmer…" Robin said awkwardly.

"Just Shimmer will do. Shall I ride with you or just follow?"

"What? Oh hop on. So, uh, how did your get your powers? And what's with the name? Kinda pretentious, don't you think?"

"ARGH! Look Robin, let me tell you how I got the name and then maybe you'll understand I'm not trying to be arrogant…" Savior said as Robin started his bike and headed back to the T-Tower. Even over the bike their argument could be heard.

"That's still not the best reason to call yourself a…"

"You're named after a bloody bird!"

"The bloody bird who will be your leader if you are accepted, so you are trumped."

"Who says you get to be leader?"

"Hey, don't make me turn this bike around and go home…!"

"WE ARE GOING HOME…!"

So, we witness the arrival of Savior, a potential new Titan! At last I can stop calling him Whiteman because I was saving his name for the end! It sounds so racist! So, what will happen next chapter? Will Savior become a Titan? What affect will he have on the Titans? And considering what Robin said, what effect will the Titans have on him? Uh, that's it! Go away! No more till the next chapter! Why are you still here? You think this is a Titans show and not a story? Fine, to make you realize it is OVER, I will close with the ending credit words! Now go away!

T-E-E-N

T-I-T-A-N-S!

Teen Titans! Let's go!


	2. Savior: The New Guy

Chapter 2: The New Guy

Writer's Note: Special thanks to BobCat for his aid with this chapter. Go read his "Ballads of the Physics Police." Now. Trust me.

"But don't you think Savior is just a WEE bit egotistical? I think Live Wire or Coil or something else would be more thematic." Robin said as he turned into the T-Tower's driveway.

"ONE, I have TOLD you why I took the name, and TWO, at least it SOUNDS good. You're named after a songbird! At least your teammate Raven's name has an aura of menace in it, you know, once upon a midnight dreary and all that. But you? If I was going by your name along and not your incredible skills, I would laugh and ask what are you going to do, sing me to death?"

"That dead horse is so dead it became the horse version of Lazarus, Savior." Robin commented as they got off the bike. They had spent the whole trip arguing (good-naturedly, of course) on the merits of titles as a meta-human secret identity.

"Fine. But I don't think that if I join your group I'll have the worst name."

"Oh? Who has the worst name? Me?"  
"No. Cyborg."

"What? Why?"

"There's no creativity at all! It just describes what he is! It would be like you being "Adolescent Man", Beast Boy being "Green Hairy Guy", Raven being "Broody Goth Girl" and Starfire being "Naïve Alien Chick." And I'd be…uh… "White Man With Useful Rope Ability and Weird Hair…" no wait uh…"

"You just better hope that Cyborg never hears you say that." Robin said as he put in the code to open the door and headed in with Savior.

"Oh I won't say it to his face, but then again, what could be worse…" Savior was saying when he heard a loud voice coming from the next room.

"I HAVE IT! THE WELDER!" Cyborg semi-yelled. Savior and Robin sweat-dropped.

"Did they hear us?"

"No, they're playing "World's Worst."

"His power is that he carries around welding equipment, and his origin is that he got laid off during government cutbacks." Cyborg said. He, Beast Boy, and Starfire were sitting around the couch.

"Oh oh…THE CABLE GUY! He has the power to turn all television programming into a French translation of Barney and Friends, and he got his power by being struck by a lightning, no, a RADIOACTIVE lightning bolt!" Beast Boy crowed. Starfire was looking back and forth between the shape shifter and metal man with confusion and a little fear.

"Uh…Lessee…AHA! THE PURPLE MAN! He has the power to secretly control people's minds, only it isn't so secret because their skin turns purple at the same time, and he got his power by…touching purple toxic waste!" Cyborg retorted.

"I don't understand this game…" Starfire said.

"It's called "World's Worst", Star. You have to think of the worst, aka bad, thing you can for something. In this case, it's metahuman names, powers, and origins. Like your name is Starfire, you can fly and throw energy and you're strong, and you got your powers because you're an alien and you trained for them." Cyborg explained.

"My things are bad?" Starfire exclaimed, looking like she was going to cry.

"NO NO NO! Yours are great. We're trying to think of BAD ones." Beast Boy explained.

"Look, you know how a lot of the bad guys we end up fighting have pretty lame names and superpowers?" Cyborg said.

"Yes." Said Starfire.

"So, what you do, is combine totally unlikely and unrelated stuff to make a superhero with a name that is stupid, powers of some sort, with extra points given if the power is also stupid, and give him a stupid way of getting his powers.  You get more points if it violates the known laws of physics." Cyborg explained.

"Yeah, like the one that Robin one with last week…"The Whizzer", who can run fast and got his powers from an injection of mongoose blood." Beast Boy said.

"Um….uh….er…Starfire said, looking confused. "Oh, I know! A young boy, named Changeling, gets his powers from a theoretical and never duplicated base similarity between the genetic structures of humans and mammals.  He can change into any animal that he can imagine, although his furry skin remains green despite the fact that the animals he shares a relationship to don't have green fur." Starfire said, grinning happily as she finally provided an entry.

"YEAH! HA HA HA! That's good Star! Ha ha…HEY WAIT A MINUTE!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Did I do it wrong?"

"I'd say you did! THAT'S MY ORIGIN!" Beast Boy yelled. Cyborg burst out laughing as he realized it was.

"I give…Starfire wins until next week…" Cyborg managed to gasp out. Starfire grinned happily.

"No she doesn't!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Are they ALWAYS like this?" Savior asked Robin.

"Pretty much. Before you turn into a Yellow-Fanged Farting Mantis and pounce on Starfire, Gar, I may point out that brawls between you and Cyborg never go well, and Starfire can muster more firepower then Cyborg can at a moment's notice. So she wins."

"Yay! I won! Oh…wait…I am sorry I insulted you Gar."

"I outta…" Garfield Logan steamed.

"Oh man…I think I'm gonna have a hernia…ha ha…hey wait, who's he?" Cyborg said, as he finally saw Savior.

"I'm Robin's prom date. Can't you tell?" Savior said.

"…Uh…I hope he's kidding…" Cyborg said.

"YES! YES HE IS!" Robin yelled. Savior started to say something else when Robin elbowed him in the gut.

"Owtch!"

"Oh Robin, be nice…" Gar said, as he transformed into one of those monkeys that have REALLY big eyes to get a better look at the stranger.

"This is Savior. He wants to join the club." Robin said.

"Savior? Isn't that kinda arrogant?" Cyborg said.

"YES. I KNOW IT DOES SOUND THAT WAY." Savior said through gritted teeth. "CAN WE DROP IT AND MOVE ON."

"What strange hair! It looks so pretty! May I feel?" Starfire said, floating over to Savior while looking at his pointy white hair.

"Uh…ok…"

Starfire joyfully reached out and grabbed two handfuls and yanked.

"OW! I SAID FEEL! NOT STEAL! OW!" Savior yelled as Starfire pulled his hair too hard.

"Ohhhhhhh, sorry…I am just doing all things wrong today." Starfire said, looking sad.

Robin elbowed Savior in the gut again.

"OW! What did I do now!"

"Something. Now guys, Savior wants to join. What do you say?" Robin said.

Savior had a bad feeling when a wicked look came into the eyes of Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg.

"Hey Starfire, I have a new word for you today." Cyborg said.

"Oh goody! What?"

"HAZING."

Meanwhile, in the hall of the Justice League…

"So, should we let this Green Arrow join our team?" Superman asked.

"I vote we put him through some tests to see what his commitment level is." Batman said.

"So, in other words, hazing?" Flash asked.

Batman glared at Flash. "No, hazing is for the immature."

"And now for the blindfolded 'Leap of Faith'" Robin told the blindfolded Savior. "For this test, you must have such trust in your would be teammates that you know no matter which one of us drew the lot, we will catch you."

"Look, I watch the Simpsons too, OK?  I know that once I step off the edge, I'm just going to fall two inches, hit the ground, and then you all get a good laugh.  Well, if that's what I have to do to join this team, fine, here I gOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!!!!!!!!!!!" Savior echoed as he fell of the end of the tower.

Starfire swooped down and caught him before he hit the ground. Three feet before, to be exact.

"I think I have to do it again, my blindfold fell off." Savior moaned.

Some time later, Savior could hear the giggles from Beast Boy and Cyborg as he tugged at his blindfold. "Can we do some combat tests or something guys?"

"No, we have this test. We call it 'Crossing the Desert.'" Robin said, and then shoved Savior before he whacked him on the rear with a paddle. Beast Boy and Cyborg did the same thing. Starfire had been unable to find her paddle and was still looking.

"OW! Will you quit it with the Simpson Stonecutter things!" Savior yelled.

"Ok ok, and this we call 'The Unblinking Eye'" Robin said, turning Savior around.

"It better not be the same th-OW OW OW!" Savior yelled as the three whacked him with the paddles again. "THAT'S IT! There will be no "Wreck of the Hesperus" or "The Paddling of the Swollen Ass With Paddles" for me!" Savior yelled, ripping his blindfold off.

"Ok ok, maybe we…"

"I found my wood hitting stick!" Starfire said joyfully as she flew down with a paddle behind Savior.

"NO WAIT!"

WHACK!!!!!!!!!

"OH MY GOD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Savior yelled as he flew twenty feet through the air and landed in the nearby lake.

"Somehow that's even better." Cyborg said.

Later, Savior was sitting on an ice pack and groaning to himself. His possible teammates had started another ritual: Twenty Questions. That wouldn't have been so bad if Robin hadn't somehow managed to get his hands on Wonder Woman's truth-telling lasso.

"How did you get that anyway?"

"Hey, we're the one who's asking the questions here!" Robin said as he wrapped the lasso around Savior's arm. 

Starfire got to go first, as the four had five questions each.

"What is your real name?" Starfire asked.

"Noel Collins. Aw man guys, I wish we knew each other better before I revealed that!" Savior said.

"Where did you live before here?"

"New York."

"I vote we give her questions to someone else! She doesn't get the point!" Beast Boy complained, wanting Savior to admit embarrassing things.

"Titans Charter Beast Boy, we all get to ask questions." Robin replied, though he silently agreed with Beast Boy.

"Do you waste all your spare time playing video games?" Starfire asked.

"Video games are silly."

"OK, I vote we expel him NOW!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Don't hurt yourself with all those big words now." Cyborg commented.

"What is your favorite movie?" Starfire asked.

"Man Bites Dog."

"Ohhhh who's in that?"

"No one you'd know."

"She even wasted her LAST question! ARGH!" Beast Boy groaned.

Cyborg was next.

"Ok, hypothetical situation. Beast Boy and I are both in extreme danger. You are in the position so that you can save both of us, but you can only save one of us. Which one do you save?"

"……………..I would try my damndest to save both of you, no matter the cost. I cannot make such a decision." Savior said.

"Ok…how long have you been a metahuman?"

"…About two weeks."

"…..Have you ever faced another metahuman in combat?"

"…….No."

"Then what makes you think you're qualified to be on this team?"

"I don't think I am qualified."

The whole group was silent.

"Wow, now THAT'S honesty! Now for something less life or death. Do you want a room facing the sun in the morning, in the evening, or doesn't face the sun at all?"

"….Evening."

"Ok, Beast Boy next." Robin said.

"YAY!"

"Why don't I feel good about this…" Savior muttered.

"Ok! What's the single most embarrassing thing you've ever done?" Beast Boy asked.

"Tried to rob a bank."

Stunned silence again.

"I'm afraid I have to use one of my questions to ask you for clarification." Robin said.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I got my powers…so I tried the path of evil to see if it appealed to me. It didn't. I felt pretty rotten about the whole thing…" Savior muttered, clearly ashamed.

"Did you keep any money?"

"No. Dropped it in the bank. Left it behind."

"……Ok! Now for the REAL question…Wonder Woman or Black Canary?"

"………Black Canary. She strikes me as more…accessible." 

"Same here. So, let's see…if you don't like video games, what do you like?"

"Pondering the state of humanity. That, and grape juice."

"If we need a forth player for a game of Mechracer X, would you be willing to give it a shot?"

"What's with all the video games? Oh sure, torment the inexperienced meta! Remind me to button mash." Savior muttered.

"Well, I'm last, and since I used one, this is number two. You said you weren't qualified to join this team. What would make you feel qualified?"

"Experience I guess."

"How did you get your powers?" 

"I'm not sure…there was this truck crash and I got sprayed with something...I think it was paint...and then another truck crash and I got sprayed with something else, and then all I can remember is some faint pain and then I came to in a subway bathroom looking like this."

"Ok, if I gave you an order you felt was wrong and there wasn't time to debate, would you follow it?"

"…….Depends."

"That's the best answer there is without specifics. Now, the most important question of all. If you get this question wrong, it will put massive strain on your stay here…..fried, scrambled, or over easy?"

"………..Wha? Uh…scrambled?"

"You pass!" Robin said.

"Ah good…but why?"

"Well, thing is, none of us can make good eggs over easy."

"Ah, that was good. Remember when that guy Speedy tried to join?"

"Yeah, he gave up with the first question I asked…" Cyborg said.

"Yeah great, now can you unhook this damn thing already! I don't deserve this kind of shabby treatment!" Savior complained.

"BUZZ!" Cyborg went.

"OH SCREW YOU!"

Robin undid the whip and handed it to Beast Boy. "Remember, under cover of darkness, or not at all."

"Right. But before that…"

"The most important part of hazing…" Cyborg said.

"EXTREME OVERINDULGENCE!" 

"Kill me now. Please just kill me now." Savior muttered.

"Now, since the Boy Blunder over here doesn't like us to use anything we can't get legally, it took us a long time to find anything good." Beast Boy said as he rummaged through the fridge.

"But then one day we had Japanese Takeout and made an amazing discovery: soy sauce contains minute quantities of alcohol!" Cyborg said.

"Don't tell me I have to drink a whole bottle of that stuff…" Savior said, looking sick.

"Of course not!" Cyborg said. Savior looked relieved.

"You have to drink a DOZEN bottles!" Beast Boy said as he came out of the fridge with his arms full of bottles. Savior looked ill.

"Guys, I have a sensitive stomach…"

"Hey, we ALL had to do this." Robin said.

"What? I mean…Starfire's an alien! You don't know what Earth food could do to her! You could have poisoned her!' Savior said incredulously.

"I don't think so. She loads up her takeout with enough of the stuff to kill a water buffalo. It's where we got the idea." Robin said.

"Plus, she likes mustard in her drinks. Hey! Idea!"

"No! Please no!"

Savior was saved, thankfully, by the sound of an alarm.

"Uh oh, we're needed!" Robin said.

"Looks like the Injustice League is at it again!" Cyborg said, looking at a computer.

"Let's go Titans!" Robin said.

"So uh, how are we gonna get there, do we have a Titanmobile or do we hoof it?" Savior asked.

"What's with this WE stuff? You're not an official member yet." Robin said.

"WHAT? What ELSE do I have to do?" Savior said.

"WE'RE gonna go deal with the bad guys, but you, in lieu of drinking the soy sauce…clean this place up!"

"WHAT?"

"Gotta go now bye!" Robin said as he ran out of the room. Savior spun around and saw the other Titans had left as well. Then he did a slow turn, looking at the landfill the Titans called home.

He cast his eyes at the nearby closet, and then walked over, opened the door and walked in.

A few moments later, he walked out with Shimmer holding every single cleaning instrument he could find.

"Let's dance, BE-YOTCH!"

What followed was a frenzy that Martha Stewart would have been proud of.

Raven drifted through the shadows, as Robin finished off his mental contact with her. He told her they were on a mission, but they had it in hand and she could just go home. She wasn't in a hurry to get back from the personal things she had been doing, so she took her times, drifting peacefully along.

"Stay behind and clean, eh? I'll show you clean! Oh yes, I'll show you!" Savior said as he walked along the hallway. He'd cleaned the main room and kitchen until it had shone and was now branching out. He found a door that lead to Beast Boy's room and was nearly buried when he opened a door and a pile of clothes nearly fell on him.

"ARGH!"

After twenty minutes of whirlwind activity, Savior left the room, looking pleased. He went up in the elevator and into the next room he found.

Man, it was a mess! Stuff written on the walls, tattered curtains and bed spread, a light bulb so caked with grime it was nearly black (Savior had never seen a blacklight), and all sorts of other stuff.

"Man, what a mess!" Savior said, and got to work.

If Raven had moved quicker, she may have realized what was happening to her room.

But she didn't.

And she didn't.

Rather tired, Savior trooped back into the main area, putting most of the cleaning stuff back.

"Thirsty…" Savior said, opening the fridge.

A moment later Savior was running back out of the room, heading back for the cleaning stuff. He'd missed something. Oh did he ever miss something.

Raven drifted out of the shadows into the main area, slowly lowering herself to the floor.

Her eyes arched.

The place was clean. REALLY clean. Was she in the right building? All the junk that annoyed her was either gone or neatly arranged. Hell, the ever-elusive remote had even been placed on the cleaned coffee table.

All the garbage seemed to be gone, and the only indications of where were two garbage bags in the hallway. That was made even stranger that there were NEVER any garbage bags around. Her teammates never threw ANYTHING out. Usually they left stuff until she couldn't take it any more and teleported it away. So why…

Raven walked into the kitchen.

Savior didn't see Raven at first as he was restocking the "food" he had removed from the fridge with the fresh stuff he had ordered via a credit card he had found lying near the phone. He had finally decided on a good arrangement and was closing the door when he heard the words behind him.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Savior was turning around when the black energy appeared around him and slammed him against the fridge, as Raven floated over.

"Who are you, the maid?"

"Huh…you must be Raven. Hello, I'm Savior, a possible new member of your team. Could you please put me down, this energy is making my skin crawl!" Savior said.

"New member? I didn't hear of any new members…"

"Would a villain come into your base, clean it up, and buy you food? If you know someone like that, please tell me, because for a villain he's a work of art."

Raven thought it over, and then dispersed the black power she commanded.

"Ok, but you try ANYTHING…and I'll break you in half. I don't like being deceived." Raven said.

"Don't know anyone who does." Savior said.

"Did you move my tea?"

"Is it in the fridge?"

Raven cast him a glowering look that was obvious even with her face hidden by her hood.

"Right, teas are generally not in fridges. I deserved that."

Raven nodded and took a step to the right.

"Hey watch it there's still some soapy patches…"

Raven's foot slipped.

The Shimmer was out and supporting Raven even before she could activate her telekinesis. She glared at Savior again.

"Sorry. Gentleman's habit." Savior said.

"I don't need your help."

"Right. Look, why don't you sit down and I'll make the tea so you don't slip again?"

"I could just float. I can make my own tea. Plus, you'll never make it right."

"I know how to make tea."

"Not my brand."

"Try me."

"And if you don't?"

"You can break me in half. Or smack will a paddle like your teammates were doing."

"Why were they…forget it, I don't wanna know…" Raven said. But she sat down at the table. She was a bit tired and someone else making her tea was somewhat appealing.

Even so, she gave Savior precise, biting instructions on how to do everything, including how many times to stir it (seven and a half quick twists, three long slow ones, just in case you were wondering). Noel calmly followed her instructions, not wanting to be paddled, or broken in half.

"Pour it carefully." Raven said as she took down her hood.

"Gotcha." Savior said as he carefully poured a cup. "Would you like cream and su…gar…" he continued as he turned around and finally got a look at Raven's face…and stopped dead.

"What?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….um, nothing. Sorry, spaced out there for a second." _Looking at your lovely face. Why do you hide such a vision behind…whoa! What am I thinking? Must have been something I ate, I never had this happen. What am I thinking? Love at first sight is a cliché among clichés…_

Raven took her tea cup and sipped it.

Savior got ready to run if she grabbed a paddle.

"…….Pretty good. For an amateur."

"Glad you like it. Want anything else? A cookie? A fruit?" _My eternal undying…ARGH! It must be something I ate! A person cannot just look at someone and ARGH! This isn't a Harlequin romance novel!_

"Your name was what again?" Raven said, sipping. Savior sat down and retrieved a Coke from the fridge via the Shimmer.

"Savior."

"Savior? Isn't that…?"

"Rather pretentious? Yeah, I get that a lot." Savior said. "I got it from this fire I helped stop when I was first…testing my powers. A little girl had inhaled a lot of smoke, I had to give her CPR…she pulled through, woke up, saw my hair, and asked "Are you my angel savior?" There was just something about those words…it struck a chord in me. So I called myself Savior. It's not me being arrogant. It's just what I wish to be."

"Noble intentions. Such grand lies." Raven said.

"Oh? How so?"

Raven arched an eyebrow. She had expected an immediate protest from the new guy: he looked green and idealistic. But maybe his literal "bright" demeanor gave that impression.

"My teammates and I save lives and protect those who do not have the power to protect themselves…but why? Nearly all of those people who will go to waste their lives, throwing away their potential for their petty hatreds and needs and addictions…make me wonder why I even do it sometimes."

"Is the alternative better?" Savior asked.

"……..No. But…why save someone if there's no real point to it?"

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, says an old saw. We can only save them, we can't tell them what to do with their lives. When you start doing that, you end up with the Hitlers of the world."

"Hitler. He was a fascinating man, wasn't he?"

"In a way. I don't suppose you supported the whole "take over the world and kill everyone besides people with blonde hair and blue eyes" thing did you?" Savior asked.

"No! Just the man…not the deviances that drove him and brought hell to the surface of the earth…" Raven replied, interested that she could actually speak candidly with this "Savior" without people complaining. She remember when she had tried to make a logical conversation on what she felt were some failings among black people and Cyborg had gotten mad and accused her of being racist. It had nothing to do with skin colour, it had to do with people. Odd how she, a half-demon, seemed to understand that better.

"Yeah, it makes me think. What is Hitler HADN'T been insane? What if he just wanted to improve Germany? If it had been just that…Germany these days would be a superpower on par with the United States. Hell, it might even have surpassed the States." Savior said, taking a drink of his coke.

The two spoke for about an hour, on various political and societal subjects, finding they agreed on a good many things (abet not all. Raven had no real interest in politics and Savior was slightly right wing). Raven was surprised: she wasn't the talking sort. But Savior was clearly well-educated and pretty centered, much like herself. 

They were in the midst of talking about Vietnam when a loud racket interrupted their conversation.

"Ahh, my teammates return, and hence by their presence do I oh so delightfully rejoin the great unwashed." Raven said sarcastically. "See you later, Noel."

As Raven was leaving, Savior finished up his coke and threw the bottle away as the voices got closer.

"Man, I don't know why those guys even bother any more…"Robin was saying.

"Did you see how Copperhead screamed when I turned into a snake?" Beast Boy laughed.

"Yeah well, we're home at-AHHHHHH! MY EYES!"

"The light! It burnssssssss!" Beast Boy wailed.

"What is going on? Where is this painful illumination that you speak of? I see nothing bad…except I wonder if we are in the right place…"Starfire asked, looking around.

"I see you like my cleaning." Savior said as he came out of the kitchen.

"Geez Noel, I said tidy the place up, not Martha Stewart it! Man!"

"I'm a tad bit anal retentive."

"Gee, you think?"

"Oh yes, I also did your rooms. Beast Boy, I tidied all your clothes and colour coded your CD'S, Robin I arranged all your costumes, and Cyborg, I put all those Playboy's under your mattress in chronological order."

Cyborg blushed furiously, even as Robin and Beast Boy gave wicked grins.

"Play…boy?" Starfire said confusingly.

"Oh Star, you see, there are lots of lonely people who-OW!" Robin yelled as Victor stomped on his foot.

"It's a magazine! That's all you need to know!"

"Oh. What did you do to my room Savior?" Starfire asked.

"Oh well, I…" Savior began to say, and then suddenly a shriek could be heard in the distance. "What the…"

A moment later Raven teleported out of the shadows around the group's feet and grabbed Savior around the neck.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY ROOM!?!?!?!?!" Raven shrieked as she shook Savior like a rag doll. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO GET IT EXACTLY THE WAY I WANTED IT?!?!?!?!?"  
"Ahhhh! Dying! Need air, help!" Savior gasped as Raven continued to strangle him.

"Raven, knock it off." Robin managed to say, though it looked like he was struggling to keep from laughing hysterically. Savior had cleaned Raven's room! He must have had a secret death wish.

"No! He must die! Die! In pain!" Raven yelled as she continued her asphyxiation. Starfire finally pulled her off.

"What did, hee hee, you do man?" Cyborg chuckled as Savior gasped and grabbed his throat, gratefully sucking in huge gasps of air.

"HELLO KITTY! EVERYWHERE! OH MY GOD, MY ROOM! KILL YOUUUUUUU!" Raven yelled, launching herself at Savior again.

"Raven, calm down! You don't wanna wreck the tower again, do you?" Robin said, as he and Starfire tried to hold Raven back. At the mention of "Hello Kitty" Cyborg and Beast Boy had collapsed on laughter.

"Stuff was so dissecated, needed new stuff…couldn't go shopping, so borrowed some stuff from Starfire's room…I just wanted to do a good job…" Savior said.

"Well people, if you think Savior deserves to be a Titan, give me an aye!" Robin chuckled.

"Aye! Aye yi yi, of this guy could be great for entertainment…" Cyborg laughed.

"Aye!" Beast Boy said.

"Aye!" Starfire said, grinning.

"Nay. You die soon." Raven said, glaring at Savior with a look that could pierce steel. Savior grinned sheepishly.

Savior was, like before, saved by the alarm.

"What now, did the Injustice League break out ALREADY?" Robin said as he went to check the alarm.

"No, new problem! Some kind of monster!" Cyborg said, checking his computer again.

"Anyone we know?"

"I'm not getting anything!"

"Ok then, let's go! You too this time, Savior. Let's see how well you are in the field."

"And you DIE when we get back, Noel." Raven said as she yanked her hood back up.

"Grand. I'm a Titan…is that a good thing?" Savior asked.

Well, Savior has passed the tests and become a Titan! And despite his little misstep, it's clear Raven set something off in him!

Raven: That lump in his throat may be emotion, but when I'm done, it will be his liver!

Calm down you! I'm the announcer here! Next chapter, the new team faces their first threat? What will happen, besides tons of things being broken and blown up? Tune in, next Titanic Time, next Titanic Channel!

Savior: Next TITANTIC Time? What the hell is that? Someone fire that announcer!

Raven: At least they didn't close with that insipid theme song…

T-E-E-N!

T-I-T-A-N-S!

Teen Titans, LET'S GO!

Raven: ARGH!


	3. Savior: Trial By Fire

Chapter 3: Trial by Fire

"You know, considering who trained you, we really should look into getting a Titanmobile or a Titanplane or a Titancopter or SOMETHING! We can't always do this!" Savior said as he ran beside Robin.

"And praytell, do you have your driving permit? Pilot's license?" Robin teased as he held out his grappling hook and fired it, catching it on a nearby roof.

"Well, uh, no, but there MUST be an easier way then this!"

"We have a submarine."

"Oh that helps!"

"Maybe next time you'll win the draw and get to have Star carry you." Robin said.

It turns out the creature (Savior had heard Robin ask someone on the radio if it was "Plasma" or something and had received a negative) was close by, and hence the Titans had gone there on foot: Starfire flying with Victor, Beast Boy as a bird, Raven via teleportation, and he and Robin via their respective grappling hooks across roofs.

Savior landed on the next roof, tossed out the Shimmer to hook onto a metal structure above him, and sprang himself into the air, flying up next to Beast Boy.

"See anything yet?" Savior asked.

"Not yet!" Beast Boy replied. He was going to say more except Savior fell down again. Beast Boy flew on, confident that he hadn't just seen his teammate for ten minutes fall to his doom.

About a minute later, some smoke coming from a street caught the Titans' attention, and they headed towards it.

"Ho boy." Savior said as he saw the wreckage. Cars were smashed and squashed, building fronts were ruined and some looked like they had had large chunks torn out of them.

"If there was a party here I think we missed it." Cyborg said as Starfire let him down and landed herself.

"I don't sense any life forms nearby." Raven said as her soul self appeared out of the concrete and dissipated to reveal Raven's cloaked forms. "If innocents were here they are now beyond our help."

"What DID this?" Beast Boy said. He landed and changed into a wolf, sniffing the air. "Ugh, there's some weird scents here guys…and what's this?" Beast Boy said, sniffing at a black powder that was on some parts of the ground.

"Looks like it was big…but if it was so big, why didn't we see it?" Robin asked.

CRASH! A gigantic hunk of what may have once been an apartment complex suddenly flew over the roofs, smashing off the edge of one of the buildings and plummeting towards the Titans.

"HOLY…!"

"STAR!" Robin yelled.

"HAH!" Starfire yelled as her eyes and hands glowed bright green, and then a powerful energy bolt blasted from her hands and struck the hunk of rubble, blowing it into much smaller chunks that rained down around the Titans.

"AH! Mother…lover!" Cyborg said. He tried not to swear around Starfire, after a particularly bad incident where Starfire had picked up a sexual slang term and gone around using it in her casual conversations for four days. She had even used it when Superman, flying past, had dropped in for a quick hello. Cyborg wasn't sure who was more embarrassed, Robin or Superman.

"Guess we know where it came from now…" Savior said, as he shot out the Shimmer and pulled himself up onto the roof of the building where the rubble had bounced off. Starfire quickly carried Robin and Cyborg up with her as Beast Boy flew and Raven teleported up to Savior's side.

"…………Shpedoinkle." Savior said incredulously. (Writer's Note: A million points to you if you get that reference!)

A more experienced superhero might not have been as impressed, but Savior was still quite green at the job, and as a result this was his first time seeing a 107 (give or take a few) foot monster that appeared to be made entirely out of some kind of black sludge.

"Ah man, don't those scientists EVER change their designs?" Robin complained, looking at the creature, which looked pretty much like any large creature composed of liquid did: a flowing ridged body that constantly dropped and a long flat head with eyes that had no pupils. "Let's go Titans!"

The Titans hurried over to the monster via their various means, even as the monster picked up a car and threw it. Screaming inside suggested the car was occupied.

Savior landed and shot Shimmer bands out of both his hands, catching the car. He quickly placed it down on the ground.

"I'm gonna grab all the people in the area and get them to safety! You guys take care of that thing!" Savior said, and leapt off the roof. The Shimmer shot down, striking the ground and lowering Savior down to it. He launched out the ropes and they broke into several dozen strands that grabbed any people they could find before drawing them away from the monster's destructive rampage.

"Ah man, he sees the monster and automatically runs away!" Cyborg said as he watched Savior bound away with the people in tow.

"Or he knows he's new and he doesn't want to get in our way. I saw him in Gotham Vic, he's green but he's not a coward." Robin said as he pulled out his staff and extended it.

Creatures like the sludge monster the Titans were fighting usually followed a pattern. Their first move was to try and smash their opponents with their giant limbs. And the sludge monster did just that as it swiped at Starfire. She barely dodged aside as the thing's semi-fist smashed into the side of a building, caving it in. Robin hoped the people had gotten out already.

"Whoa! Yikes!" Beast Boy yelled as he swooped down to the ground, barely avoiding the creature's swiping arms. He landed as he changed back, took a deep breath, and then transformed into a triceratops.

"Wait Beast Boy! Things like that…!" Robin yelled.

Too late, as Beast Boy charged into the thing's leg…and right through its thick liquidy body. Fortunately he had enough momentum to go right through the limb, as he exploded out the other end, gagging and spitting. The thing tried to stomp on him, but he quickly turned into a cheetah and ran away.

Starfire swooped in, letting the monster have it with a few Star Bolts. They exploded on the creature's chest, blowing large holes in it.

"Ten bucks say the holes close up." Robin said.

"No thanks." Victor said as he primed his sonic cannon. Indeed, the holes were closing up, even as the creature swung at Starfire. She flew upward and to the right to avoid the blows. In the corner of his eye, Robin saw Savior running away carrying another group of people.

"HEY YOU, LISTEN TO THIS!" Cyborg yelled, firing his sonic cannon at the creature's head. But the heavy sonic waves didn't seem to bother the creature much, as it thrust up it's hands.

"Pattern number 2: It will throw parts of it's own body at us." Robin said, and indeed it did just that as the monster fired twin balls of black guck at Cyborg and Robin. They scattered and the balls hit the concrete, shattering it.

Raven materialized out of the shadows need Robin.

"It doesn't have a mind I can attack: too primative. And I can't lift it, it's too heavy. Any ideas?" Raven inquired.

"Ummmmmm…" Robin said, as Starfire swooped back it and blasted the sludge creature with more Starbolts. "Liquid things like this sometimes don't react well to other liquids. Let's water it!"

That was all the cyborg and sorceress needed to hear, as Cyborg leapt over to a nearby fire hydrant and ripped it out of the ground. The water sprayed up into the heavens, until Raven telekinetically ripped some pipes out from beneath the ground, snapped them together, and placed them on the water-spurting hole so the water was redirected at the monster. It roared as it was sprayed, and then it took a swipe at the two.

"NO GO ON THAT!" Cyborg yelled, and then he was flying through the air as the creature hit him. He stopped short of the wall, encased in black energy, and as Raven lowered him down Beast Boy finally reappeared near Robin.

"My animal forms can't hurt it! The damage I do just disappears!"

"Hmmmmm, spraying it with water didn't work…maybe it's flammable!" Robin said as he retrieved some explosive discs from his utility belt. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The Titans scattered as Robin hurled the explosives, and his actions bore fruit as the discs exploded on impact and the creature's chest immediately caught on fire.

"Nice work Fearless." Cyborg said as the thing roared in pain, the fire spreading down its arms. "I guess…"

The sludge creature roared again and thrust up its arms, and suddenly the flaming parts of the creature flew off at high speed. Robin and Beast Boy barely avoided being ignited by the flaming debris as the Titans scattered.

"Blast. I didn't think it could do that." Robin said, as he tried to come up with a new plan. It appeared whatever composed the creature's body (it did kind of resemble oil, maybe that was part of it?) was flammable, but any attempt to light it on fire again would probably result in what had just happened.

The creature slammed its arms into the ground, causing the grounded Titans to lose their footing as the shockwave washed over them. Rubble came raining down near Cyborg as a previously damaged building collapsed, and as he dodged aside the creature brought it's left limb smack down on him with a resounding crash.

"CYBORG!" Robin said in horror. The impact had been incredible, and even from the distance Robin had been he had felt it.

The creature raised its' arm, and Robin was about to run over and see if Cyborg was hurt when he saw him.

Cyborg was in the thing's arm, barely visible (if his metal hadn't been so bright Robin probably wouldn't have seen him), totally incased in the sludge. He was clearly fighting like mad to get out, but the creature wouldn't let him get a proper momentum as it shifted it's body around so that Cyborg couldn't find a surface to get out of.

Robin realized he couldn't breath.

"Bloody hell! We have to get him out of there or he'll suffocate!" Robin said, pulling out another explosive disc.

"Don't! You might cook Victor instead!" Raven said, as she tried to get ahold of Victor with her telekinesis and pull him out. But the creature's body was causing some kind of interference, and she didn't want to pull until she was sure she had Victor. If she half-assed it, she could very well end up pulling off Victor's head or something similarly unpleasant.

Starfire blasted the area around Victor, but the creature's wounds healed up almost immediately.

"We have to get him out!" Robin said. He wondered if he should take the chance and jump into the creature's body himself. Maybe Raven could grab him with her powers and throw him through the body and he could…

"HEY!"

And then the Shimmer snapped down from a nearby roof, fifteen feet of it coverted into a blade-like shape. It struck at the creature's "elbow" and severed the arm off in one quick slice. The creature roared as it's limb was cut off.

The Shimmer twisted and Savior swung down as the pile of glop holding Victor hit the ground, shooting the energy into the mess and pulling Victor out. Savior then bounded over to the other Titans, putting Victor down as he coughed and sucked in air.

"Thanks man…" he managed to gasp.

"Not a problem. What do we do?" Savior asked Robin.

"It's flammable, but it seems to be able to get rid of any part of it's body it doesn't want." Robin replied.

"And take back the parts it does want." Beast Boy said, pointing. The creature had taken a step forward and the part Savior had hacked off was flowing back into the leg. The creature was growing a new arm at the same time. In a second it was as good as new.

"You know just once I'd like to see some originality from whoever makes these things." Robin muttered.

The sludge monster threw another blob of muck at the group, but Savior's Shimmer snapped out and whacked it aside. As it splattered on the side of a building, Savior grabbed a nearby car and threw it at the monster. It bounced off, but the creature apparently didn't like it very much as it roared in displeasure. That was all the cue Savior needed, as he began grabbing every single car he could find and threw it at the monster. When he ran out of cars he began throwing newspaper boxes, street signs, mailboxes, and anything else he could get his metaphorical hands on. The creature staggered under the onslaught of thrown objects.

"You must admit he's persistent, if a bit one note." Raven said, and then picked up a hunk of rubble and threw it herself. Starfire fired off more Starbolts and Robin again tried to set the creature on fire, igniting it's right arm with more explosive discs before the creature sloughed off it's burning "tissue" by whipping it's arm out, splattering the nearby buildings with flaming sludge.

Spying a nearby lamppost, Savior grabbed it with the Shimmer and ripped it out of the ground. He wrapped the Shimmer around the end and snapped it out, using it as a club as he beat on the creature's head with it.

"How far can you extend that thing? Robin asked.

"About 100 meters if I only use one hand! Ah crap!" Savior yelled as the creature swatted his club away. Savior withdrew the Shimmer, still holding the lamppost, and then got a spark of inspiration. A blade-strand of Shimmer peeled off and sliced off one of the ends of the lamppost, leaving a crude knife-point, even as Savior twisted it around and snapped out another line that ran itself across the other end of the lamppost. Having formed a crude Shimmer bow, Savior drew back the lamppost/arrow using one strand against the other strand and let it fly, impaling the sludge creature through the head.

"Owtch." Beast Boy said, as the creature roared and thrashed about. It grabbed the lamppost, yanked it out, and hurled it at Savior and Robin. The two leapt out of the way…and Robin leapt right into one of the creature's arms, the gunk of the creature immediately closing around Robin as he began to squeeze. Robin yelled in pain.

"ROBIN!!!!!!!!!!!" Starfire screamed, as her eyes glowed bright green. She threw up her hands.

"The Starbolts don't do anything!" Beast Boy said as he flew past Starfire as a hawk.

"Then maybe I HAVEN'T BEEN MAKING THEM BIG ENOUGH!" Starfire roared in a very un-Starfire like voice as a ball of energy the size of a mini-van appeared over her head before she hurled it at the monster.

It never hit, as a hole suddenly appeared in the creature's body and the blast flew through it, detonating behind the creature as it closed the hole. It made a sound that sounded faintly like laughter, if something was laughing under quicksand with a mouth full of seaweed.

"Pattern…number…three…" Robin gasped as the creature continued to squeeze.

A Shimmer blade saved the day again as Savior once again sliced the creature's arm off at the forearm. The creature roared and prepared to smash Savior with its other arm.

Then the street, weakened by Starfire's massive blast, suddenly collapsed behind the monster, and the creature fell backwards into the hole as dust and smoke flew everywhere.

"Karma. Gotta love it." Robin said as he struggled out of the sloppy gunk. " But I doubt that's it. We better…" Robin trailed off as he looked at his gunked-up arms.

The disgusting liquid the creature was composed off was dissolving…turning into the black sand like substance Beast Boy had sniffed early. Robin looked back at the pile of goo that had been the creature's hand before Savior had sliced it off. It was disintegrating too.

"Ah ha! The substance it's body is made up off needs to stay in contact with it, or else it breaks down!" Robin deducted.

"Ideas?" Savior asked.

"If we could blow it's body apart, maybe all the pieces would die on their own…"

Roaring, the creature came back out of the hole, pulling itself up.

Raven floated in and emptied a garbage dumpster on it's head, and it roared as the garbage obscured it's gunk-formed eyes. Savior threw out two strands of the Shimmer from each hand, snatched up two nearby cars, and smashed them together on the thing's head, squashing it and sending gunk flying everywhere.

"We can't just keep knocking it off piece by piece! It'll take forever! God knows how much damage it could do before we finish it!" Robin said, wondering if he should try the fire treatment again.

"I have an idea. Stall it! Beast Boy, I need your help!" Savior yelled to the hawk flying overhead him, and then he turned and took off down the street.

"Stall it…easy for you to say!" Robin said, and threw some smoke bombs in the thing's face. It roared and swung wildly, smashing more holes in the nearby buildings.

"Getting tired Robin…" Starfire said as she flew down to Robin's side. "I'm running out of solar energy…"

"Not to worry Star, I've got firepower to spare!" Cyborg said, as his arm reformed into a gatling gun.

"What good will THAT do?" Raven asked.

"Probably nothing but gotta love the classics!" Cyborg said as he opened fire on the creature. As expected it only bothered the creature…until Victor shot it in the eyes. It again, as usual, roared when that happened and the Titan cleared away from its crazy swings.

"Where the hell did Savior go?" Raven asked.

"He said he had an idea…though he neglected to tell me what it was…I hate it when they do that…" Robin said. In the background he heard a weird crashing noise: what was that? Amazing he could notice that over the racket the creature was making…

"Robin!!!!!!!!" Savior yelled, as he reappeared from around the corner. He appeared to be dragging something with the Shimmer.

"Savior! WHOA!" Robin yelled as a glob of sludge splattered on a building next to him. "Star, distract it!"

"OK!" Starfire said, taking off and flying at the creature. She flew in circles around it's head while peppering it with any Starbolts she could muster out of her depleted energy stocks.

The rest of the Titans ran over to where Savior was, as what he was dragging was finally revealed: a giant fuel truck. Beast Boy, in the form of a T-Rex, was pushing it on the other hand. The crashing noise had been Savior's lifting the truck up for a few seconds and then dropping it because it was too heavy.

"Ok Robin, here's what we do. We throw this into the creature, and then Cyborg blows it up, and the creature gets blown everywhere and all the parts hopefully die. Sound good?" Savior said.

"Can you throw it?"

"No it's too heavy! I was hoping Raven could! Raven, can you pick this up you're your telekinesis?"

"I don't know… Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted as she held her arms out. The truck became encased in black energy and floated up a few feet before it came crashing back down.

"I can't! It's too heavy!"

"Ok then, we'll BOTH pick it up. Ok?" Savior said, as he snapped out the Shimmer and wrapped it around the truck.

"Alright." Raven replied as the truck became encased in black energy.

"Robin, when the truck gets thrown tell Starfire to get clear! You ready Raven?" Savior asked.

"Quit talking and throw it!" Raven snapped.

"You got it! Get ready Victor!"

"Locked and loaded!" Victor said as a missile extended from the end of his arm.

"Starfire get clear!" Robin yelled.

"What?" Starfire said, stopping dead. "You made me to turn invisible?"

"No no get away…!"

"Robin-AHHHHHHHH!" Starfire screamed as the creature slammed its arm across her, sending her flying forward.

Robin vaulted on his pole and leapt up, grabbing Starfire in mid-air.

"THROW IT!"

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven yelled as she and Savior lifted up the truck. "VOLAC BARBARDOS!"

And the two threw the truck, which lanced through the air and hit the creature dead in the chest, sinking in almost all the way through. The creature bellowed it's rage and pain.

"Oh put a sock in it!" Victor yelled, and fired the missile.

The creature's eyes went wide.

BA-BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM! The missile struck the truck and the explosion rocked the street, the shockwave nearly knocking all the Titans down. Smoke washed over the group and then blew away.

"Whoo hoo! Goodnight!" Cyborg whooped as the smoke cleared to reveal twin pools of guck that had once been the creature's feet and nothing else. The creature had been blown to bits.

"Owned!" Beast Boy said as he turned back into human form.

"Nice work guys…wait a minute." Robin said as he looked around the area where the creature had been blown to bits. There was a lot less sludge on the road and walls then there should have been. Where had it…?

Then Robin looked up.

"OH NO! INCOMING!" Robin yelled as he saw the sludge begin to rain down on them. Then the Titans were deluged as the creature's body poured down on them in a thick gucky shower of waste and ash.

It stopped falling after eight seconds, and Robin lowered his now sludge-covered arms.

"UGH. The price of being a hero…" Robin said, shaking his arms to try and get the guck off.

"PLUGH! This stuff tastes worse then Starfire's cooking!" Beast Boy said, spitting out some sludge.

"I am in need of that water-spraying station you earthlings have, what did you call it?" Starfire said as she wiped gunk from her eyes.

"A shower?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes that's it…"

"How are you Sa…what?" Robin said.

Savior lowered the Shimmer. Somehow before the sludge had rained on them Savior had gotten the Shimmer out and above him, managing to weave the strands into a pattern that formed a crude umbrella. The umbrella had protected him from the sludge.

The thing was, Raven was standing right next to him. She had been protected from the sludge too.

"Hey, what's the big idea protecting Raven and not us!" Beast Boy yelled.

"I didn't ASK for this! He grabbed me and pulled me under it! I didn't need your help!" Raven scowled at Savior.

"Sorry guys…Raven was the closest, you other guys were just too far away…!"

"Oh sure! Right!" Cyborg yelled. He grabbed up a handful of sludge to throw at Savior, only to have it dissolve to dust in his hands. "AH CRAP!"

"We better look around, make sure the creature's dead, no little puddles sliding off to regenerate later…and then we go home and shower. Ugh." Robin said, wiping guck from his hair.

"You ok Raven? I did yank you rather…" Savior tried to ask.

"I didn't need you! I am no some helpless female, so get it out of your head, or I will forcibly remove the thought!" Raven snapped.

"Ok ok…sorry…just wanted to help…"

"Next time, forget it!" Raven said, as she turned and stalked off.

"Sorry…" Savior said again.

"Oh don't let it get to you. She probably appreciates not getting dirty…she just can't express it. Nice work Noel. You did pretty well in the field for a rookie. That arrow trick was nice." Robin said.

"Thanks. Sorry I couldn't grab you too Robin, but you were…"

"Too far away. Right, got it. Not the first time I've gotten dirty."

"Party tonight. We deserve it." Beast Boy said as he walked past. He stopped suddenly and tensed. Robin's eyes widened.

"NO, WAIT!"

And then Beast Boy shook himself like a dog, spraying Robin and Savior with sludge. They yelled and began chasing after him.

"The oil-based monster you unleashed was destroyed by the Titans." Wintergreen told the man in the shadows.

"Just a failed experiment. I didn't expect it to win." Slade replied.

"Then why sir…"

"Even failures can have some use."

"Understood sir. There is one thing though…"

"Yes?"

"The Titans appear to have a new member."

"Who?"

"Our cameras didn't catch his name…" Wintergreen said as he brought the best picture of Savior the hidden cameras had gotten up on the screen.

Slade cocked his head.

"Pity. He had signed his own death warrant. How tragic…for him…" Slade said. A communicator beeped and Slade answered it.

"Slade." He said, as the headmistress of the H.I.V.E academy appeared.

"Hello sir. I am calling to tell you the Troika…sorry, Gizmo, Jinx and Mammoth…"

"I want nothing to do with them. They failed."

"Yes sir, but they claim they have a new plan which will defeat the Titans this time."

"I'm sure. What is it, their childish new name?"

"They are certain they will succeed this time sir."

"Then tell them to act instead of talking." Slade said, and terminated the conversation.

Slade took a few steps and looked at Savior again.

"And then there were six. This could be a problem. I may have to start taking these children seriously soon…Wintergreen."

"Yes sir?"

"Contact Killjoy."

Even in the darkness, Slade could see Wintergreen pale slightly.

"Sir, are you sure you want to…"

"Yes. Call him."

"Yes sir…" Wintergreen said hesitantly, walking off.

Slade stood in his darkness, lost in his thoughts.

Well, the new Titans survived their first fight! But trouble is coming, as the newly named Troika claim they have a plan! And even if they fail, who is this one called Killjoy who scares Wintergreen so? Well, you won't find out next chapter, as it will be pure comedy! So tune in next Titan…

Savior: AHEM.

Right, in the next chapter for "A Day In The Life". Now, the theme song!

Raven: NO!

Ok, fine!

Raven: Smart man.

We'll just open the next chapter with the opening theme!

Raven: RAGE.

So that's it for now! Review please!


	4. Savior: A Day In The Life

(SR: Originally my version of the opening theme went here. Now it's gone, unfortunately.)

Chapter 4: A Day In The Life

Written By: Chrissie Brynn

Directed By: No One Really

6:00 AM

Raven had never needed much sleep, and no matter what time she went to bed she usually got up early. It was pretty much the only time that the tower was quiet, and she could relax and meditate in some place other then her room (which had been purged of all the Hello Kitty horrors Savior had put up in his attempt to help her, but was not quite back to the way she wanted it). She had showered and dressed in her usual outfit, and had gone down to the kitchen.

She was quite surprised to find she wasn't alone.

"Well, you're up early. Then again I expected that. Good morning Raven." Savior said from where he was standing at the oven. He had taken off his white jacket and it was draped over one of the kitchen chairs.

"Prove it." Raven said curtly, annoyed that her privacy had been interrupted.

"Point well taken."

"What are you doing up?"

"Was too charged on adrenaline from the fight yesterday, couldn't sleep well. Probably gonna drop like a stone tonight, but until then…what's wrong? You're not still mad about the whole grabbing thing, are you?"

"Noel, don't misunderstand me. I appreciate not getting covered in sludge like my teammates, but I also dislike the idea that you felt that you needed to protect me from a little dirt."

"You were…"

"Closest, right. Not buying it. Beast Boy was virtually next to me, you could have grabbed him too. Save your noble intentions for those who will appreciate them, I find them distasteful and sexist. Now could you please move, I want to make my…"

"Tea?" Savior said, holding up a steaming cup on a saucer. Raven's eyebrow arched. "I had a feeling you'd be an early riser."

"If you wasted my tea by not making it…" Raven said as she took the saucer, lifted the cup, and sipped. She blinked.

"It's good…you remembered my instructions."

"I have a good memory for those things." Savior said, as he lifted the kettle and another cup to the table, pouring it.

"You're drinking my tea?" Raven asked.

"Trying it."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Savior said, as he sat down and took his own sip. "Hmmmm…a tad bit bitter, but it works for the tea and not against it."

"You drink a lot of tea?" Raven asked.

"My mother did…I was with her a lot, so I did it by default. I think she used like 120 different brands during her life…"

"I see." Raven said, sitting down and bringing up her book. She didn't want to start talking about parents. For obvious reasons.

The two were silent for a minute.

"Lord of the Flies, huh. First time through?" Savior asked, looking at the book Raven was reading. Raven sighed inwardly: he wanted to keep talking.

"No. How did you know of it? School reading? Or did you watch the movie?" she asked curtly, hoping he would go away and leave her alone.

"Actually, my mom gave it to me. It's perhaps the best book on man's innate animal and flaw in giving in to it. It takes an exceptional individual to resist it, hence why Ralph is all alone at the end. Exceptional people are always alone. And yes, I have seen the movie. Both of them: the old black and white version and the more modern one with those several revisions as the book was written during WWII. Some clash with the book, but on the other hand, it has one of the best pieces of child choir music I've ever heard in a movie."

Raven lowered her tea, a bit intrigued despite herself.

"I personally find the best bit is at the very end where that child tries to recite the information about himself that his parents obviously taught him to the soldier and he can't remember it. One of the best images I've ever read."

"Yes that is a disturbing bit, but did you notice that…"

9:00 AM

Robin tried to sleep in when he could, but a lifestyle of sudden trips out into the city at midnight and god knows what else happens in Gotham for a few years had royally messed up his biological clock, and twenty minutes ago he had found himself up and no able to fall asleep. So he got dressed and headed for the kitchen.

To his surprise he bumped into Starfire. She looked worried.

"Robin, I think we have a problem. Raven and Savior seem to be angry at each other…and they are threatening to hurt the other by using school supplies." Starfire said in a rush. Robin's eyebrow arched.

"What?"

"They were talking pretty fast, but I heard something that sounded like Raven said she would erase Noel's head…"

"What?" Robin repeated, deciding to see what was going on for himself.

He could hear the voices as he turned the hall. It was definitely strange to hear Raven's voice raised: she was usually very collected, for obvious and good reasons. But her tone wasn't so much angry as firm.

"…notes that it is representing the split that all schizophrenics must live with." Raven said as Robin walked in.

"Hello, what's going on?" Robin asked.

"Please friends, don't erase each other's heads!" Starfire said from behind Robin. Savior looked confused, and then he began to chuckle.

"We're ok Robin. We're discussing a film called _Eraserhead_. We were kind of into the discussion when Starfire came in so we ignored her."

"Eraserhead?" Robin said.

"Yes we're trying to decide what it means. Raven here thinks that it represents a schizophrenic's mind."

"It DOES." Raven snapped.

"No no no! It's an allegory of the human condition during the Cold War! The mutated fetus CLEARLY represents the fear of nuclear holocaust and the hallucinations that Henry has are definitely the representation of the madness that it would take to do that to society, yet their constant appearance shows how easy it is for that madness…"

"That is ridiculous! The baby clearly shows the way the outside world looks at the mentally ill: like twisted freaks who should…"

By now Robin had left the room after getting a muffin. He sat down in their lounge and looked at the computer to see if any major events had happened while they were sleeping. He could hear the continued argument going on: ten minutes later Starfire walked out looking incredibly confused.

"Robin, what does "the microism inside the macroism" mean?"

"………Beats the heck out of me!"

"Robin, I do not wish to attack you! I merely wish to learn what Noel and Raven are speaking so loudly about."

Robin facevaulted.

The argument finally ended several minutes later when Cyborg showed up and Raven retreated back to her room. Savior came out to the lounge while Cyborg attacked the fridge for food.

"You managed to have a conversation with Raven that lasted more then a few sentences. I'm impressed."

"We think alike." Savior said. "So, do we go out looking for criminals or do we wait for them to pull something and go pound them into oblivion."

"A little bit of A and a little bit of B." Robin said in his best Grandpa Simpson impression. "By the way Savior, I want to run some tests on your powers later."

"Sure." Savior was saying when Cyborg suddenly dropped a metal arm on his shoulders, making him jump.

"Noel, it's time for you to learn a little lesson about video games: you only think they're silly because you haven't been playing enough of them!"

"Uh…"

"So time to learn!" Cyborg said, shoving Savior towards the couch. Too hard, as Savior literally flipped over it and landed on the other end with a thud.

"Ooops." Cyborg said.

"I can't feel my legs." Savior said on the other end.

"Oh come on that's a cliché among cliché's" Cyborg said as he vaulted over the couch, landing on it much better then Noel.

"I think I heard something snap."

"Oh just get up here and play!"

10:00 AM

"ARGH YOU MOTHER…LOVER!" Cyborg yelled as he lost another round of Super Mega Championship Ultra Turbo Street Combat 3 ¾ to Savior.

"I told you I was gonna button mash." Savior said. He was pretty amused: he had constantly messed up Cyborg's strategies by mashing the kick button. He found that funny: the great skills of several martial arts masters were no match for the power of Savior's kicks!

"Ok, we are changing games! Cheater. I bet you camp in Quake too." Cyborg muttered, getting out Mechracer X.

10:45 AM

"Ha ha! The man is back!" Cyborg said as he bested Savior in another race.

"Rematch." Savior said for the ninth time.

"Hey man where's the rage? There's no fun to be had without the rage!"

"It's a video game, not the fate of the entire free world."

"Aw man, no fair! It's no fun without the rage!"

"The king has returned!" Beast Boy said as he sat on the couch and grabbed the third controller.

"Never mind." Cyborg said with a wicked grin.

"What are you doing Robin?" Starfire asked.

"Answering my e-mail. My PUBLIC e-mail, which I DID NOT WANT, and which people ask me questions despite the fact I REALLY DO NOT HAVE THE TIME TO ANSWER A BUNCH OF PEOPLE'S QUESTIONS." Robin said, directing his angry words at Cyborg. Cyborg just smirked and started another race.

"If that's not bad enough, most of these people ask the same questions over and over! Geez, time for some spring cleaning! "Dear Robin, what is it like being a superhero?" Oh, what a good question! Let me think of how I should answer it…DELETED!" Robin yelled as he deleted the question. "What's next. "Dear Robin, do you have a secret crush on Starfire?" Ah, now THIS question is definitely worth my time and consideration…DELETED! Oh this is getting good! Now what…"Dear Robin, do you wear the same clothes all the time?" Oh THAT'S a new one. No way do I get this freakin' question all the time! I suppose I'll probably answer it right now DELETED!" Robin laughed, now thoroughly enjoying himself. "Holy Dear Robin! Holy E-Mail! Did you invent the word holy? Are you made of holy stuff? Are you full of holes?" Oh I'll totally answer this one because apparently the only thing I'm concerned with is saying sub-puns with the word holy in them DELETED!" Robin crowed.

"Now you've done it Vic, Robin's lost his mind." Beast Boy said.

"I think he's still on his way there." Cyborg replied.

"What next? "Hi Robin. This is Trevor from Hampton Maine and I was wondering if you could teach me to be as awesome as you. I am a vampire and…"……And WHAT? That's it? I am a vampire and I'm going to attack you? I am a vampire and here's a million dollars? I am a vampire and here's your own spaceship? I mean what the…oh wait, I get it! THEY GOT HIM! Someone stuck him with a stake through the heart right in the middle of the e-mail! Oh Trevor! I MOURNE FOR YOU!" Robin mock-cried, and then pretended to weep into his hands.

"Ok, NOW he's lost it." Cyborg said.

11:30 AM

"The only thing better then one wannabe to trash is TWO wannabe's." Cyborg said, as Starfire had joined in and the four were having a four-person race.

"Forget them Cy, you have to worry about ME!" Beast Boy yelled as he zoomed it and tried to knock Cyborg out of the lead.

"Please, like you could…AH!" Cyborg yelled as his ship suddenly started sparking, along with Beast Boy's. A second later a missile slammed into the two of them and blew them off the track. "What the hell?"

"Scrambling and homing missile. Eat my dust." Savior said as he zoomed past the place where Cyborg and Beast Boy's cars had been.

"Why you lousy…!"

"I've got the win sewn up now!"

"What does this button do?" Starfire asked, and then Noel yelled as his car blew up. A moment later the hot pink racer she had picked zipped past and over the finish line.

"I WON! I WON! I WON!" Starfire chanted as she started jumping up and down in joy.

"Ah man being bested by a wannabe sucks." Cyborg said.

"Oh this ain't so bad." Beast Boy said as he watched Starfire jump up and down.

"Dear Robin, if you could have a threeway with Raven and Starfire who would get it first?" Oh what a mature mind DELETED!"

12:30 PM

"Never much did like mac and cheese. Too…simple…lacks a certain subsistence." Savior said as took a bite from his grilled cheese and bacon sandwitch.

"It's not made from animals." Beast Boy defended.

"Um excuse me, cheese?"

"You think this cheese is made from animals?"

"Hay Robin u suxxor u fag Im goina keel yu yu queer faggot…" oh I am so scared DELETED!"

1:15 PM

"HOLY…!" Savior yelled as he flew across the room. He flew over Robin's head, but all Robin said was "DELETED!" He hit the wall with a thud.

"Real mature guys." Savior said as Beast Boy and Cyborg laughed hysterically.

"I won again!" Starfire said, grinning.

"I knew challenging her to an arm wrestling match would end badly." Savior muttered.

"Dear Robin, what's it like getting it up the ass from Batman, because I know you do you homo faggot…" Oh god is that nonsense still floating around? Damn you Fredric Wertham! Gee I wonder if I should actually say that DELETED!"

"Someone once gave me a not so politically correct piece of advice Robin." Savior said. "Arguing on the Internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded."

"PI indeed but oh so true! Enough of this! Let's go test your powers now Noel." Robin said, closing up his e-mail.

2:00 PM

"Entry 1-B from Timothy Drake, alias Robin, aka myself. Entry concerns preliminary tests run on Noel Collins, alias Savior, in regards to his metahuman mutation, the possibly sentient energy extension that Noel calls the Shimmer." Robin said into a microphone. He spoke as he watched Noel perform tasks to indicate certain qualities Robin wished to record. He wasn't worried about anyone overhearing this conversation: it was going straight into Barbara Gordon aka Oracle's memory banks, and her security was the best on the planet, or maybe in the galaxy.

"Subject professes to be unsure of exactly what was sprayed on him that resulted in this mutation, but power suggests that a benign, at least at the moment, mutation of the nervous system happened. Exact details will be added as they are acquired." Robin said, as Noel followed his instructions down in the training area.

"Subject's "Shimmer" emerges in the primary form in a rope shape that is roughly 6.2 inches in circumference from the subject's right hand. Maximum length the rope shape can extend when energy is summoned from right hand is approximately 100.7 meters long or 327.3 feet, roughly the height of a 30-story building. Subject can project the energy from any part of his body though, including his left hand, feet, and so on. However, for each projection, the distance the energy can emerged is halved: one extension from each hand will only go 50.35 metres and so on."

Robin took a note down and continued.

"Subject believes energy possesses at least some kind of awareness, if not intelligence. Tests do indicate possibilities that the appendage is acting less like an extension of subject's body then like a creature given an order. Data is sketchy and flawed, will gather more before drawing conclusion."

"The energy of the appendage does not appear to have a set state: subject can alter it's weight and density with no apparent effort. As a rope subject can whip the energy with enough force to shatter a 2.5 foot thick block of concrete, or roughly 178.7 miles an hour. Length does not seem to decrease momentum: a 20 foot long extension does the same damage of a 200 foot extension."

"Energy is not confined to a rope-like state: subject can alter the shape of the material to whatever primitive shape he needs as long as he possess enough of the appendage's "material" to do so. The subject can make the extensions sharp, sharp enough to slice through stone and small amounts of metals like rock and steel, or can be altered to a serrated saw like state to saw through thicker materials. Subjects can interweave the robe strands to create shields, platforms, and even primitive weapons such as swords and clubs. Suggest powers similar if weaker then Green Lantern's ring, which can create anything in any shape as long as it is charged, while subject is disqualified from such powers due to limited amount of energy "material" to work with. Ability to alter density also makes the weapon a potent bludgeon."

"The energy itself seems gifted with great strength, and subject, while using said energy appendage, can lift a maximum of 7.2 tons or roughly 14400 pounds in weight. Subject can only lift such extreme for the duration of a few seconds. Appendage transfers the weight to the body much as if one were lifting a heavy object with their arms. Subject's limbs do not seem affected by such things such as whiplash: a last minute catch after falling from a great distance shows that the energy appears to absorb the momentum that would have torn a normal man's arm out of his socket had he fallen from such a height and caught himself with a normal rope. Subject's strength is not altered by number of appendages: he can only lift his maximum with one appendage as well as ten. Subject can carry lesser loads for various increasing lengths of time: he can hold the average vehicle up for several minutes if necessary."

"The energy appendage also appears quite resistance: it's great speed makes it very difficult for bullets to hit it, and a woven shield in front of the subject has blocked the firepower of several powerful machine guns, though subject needed a fair amount of material and a few seconds to form such a dense shield. The energy has also proven to be unaffected by extreme heat, extreme cold, and heavy amounts of electricity. The subject says he knows of a weakness in the appendage but would not divulge said weakness at this time. More data to come by later."

"Subject is approximately 6'3 in height with crystal white hair and light blue eyes. He weights approximately 221 pounds and possess a fit and low-fat physique. Subject is right handed, well balanced, and in good shape. Name, repeated once again, is Noel Collins, aka Savior."

"This is the end of Entry 1-B. More data to be acquired in the field as needed and as observed. End current observation."

4:00 PM

Knock knock.

The door slid aside to reveal an un-amused Raven. Her expression did not change when she saw Savior standing at her door.

"What?"

"I came to fix your room back up the way it was."

"…………That is not needed, I can do it myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Thank you for offering. Goodbye." Raven said, and closed the door. Savior stared at it for a few seconds.

"Man, always you and Raven, huh?" Cyborg asked suddenly. Savior jumped.

"Don't do that." Savior said as he looked at where the large man had appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Why you always with her? You're yakking with her when I wake up and here you are at her room. What, you can't go an hour without seeing her?"

"No, I am merely trying to…make amends…for my…error…" Savior stammered. Cyborg smirked.

"You LIKE her, don't you?"

"What? Well yes! No! Teammate wise, uh, she and I…with the movies and the truck yesterday and…"

"Ohhhhhhh! Savior and Raven, sitting in a tree…!"

"Oh please not THAT! Act your age, not your shoe size!"

"K-I-S-S…!"

"DAMNATION WILL YOU CEASE THE INFERNAL CHANT?" Savior roared. Victor stopped, still smirking.

"Sure I will!"

"Good!"

"If you do one thing…"

4:05 PM

Knock knock.

Raven opened her door again to find Savior there once again.

"What?"

Savior suddenly lifted a kazoo and blew on it quickly.

"Oh, I'M VERY VERY SORRY! I'M SO VERY VERY SORRY! I'LL NEVER EVER DO IT AGAIN!" Savior sang as he did a goofy little dance.

4:10 PM

"OH NO PLEASE I GOT ENOUGH OF THIS YESTERDAY!" Savior yelled as he ran through the lounge. Four paddles encased in black energy quickly followed, followed by Raven as she floated along behind them, swinging the paddles at Savior as he ran through the door at the other end.

Raven glanced at Robin and Starfire giving her incredulous looks.

"What?"

"Oh nothing!"

"Yes nothing!"

"Good." Raven said as she floated out of the room again.

A moment later Victor walked in, laughing breathlessly and wiping his eyes.

"I had a feeling you were behind this. When Raven gets done killing Noel could you tell him we finally have a room for him?"

5:00 PM

"I live to kill Cyborg. I live to kill Cyborg. I live to kill Cyborg…" A badly bruised Savior said as he unpacked his lone bag. His room was sadly bare: just a bed and a few desks with a closet. He winced: Raven had gotten him pretty good. She had enjoyed it too, he swore.

"Damn…" Savior muttered. "Maybe I'd better chance it."

Had anyone been outside the window of Savior's room at that moment they would have been blinded by a bright flash.

6:00 PM

"Hey Savior we're ordering pizza what do you want on…" Beast Boy said as he casually charged into Savior's new room, still talking before he trailed off.

Someone was sitting on the bed. But it wasn't Savior.

Beast Boy's eyes widened as the new man looked up, shocked. He was a slight man, not very large, with deep red hair tied in a ponytail behind his head and deep blue eyes. He was pretty good looking, and nicely dressed in what appeared to be a nice pair of slacks, a T-shirt, and shoes, slightly worn.

But he wasn't Savior.

"Beast Boy!" The man said, shocked.

"Hey, what the hell? WHO the hell?" Beast Boy yelled.

The new man started getting up, but Beast Boy wasn't going to let him get his hands on a weapon, as he charged, turning into a lion and pouncing on the new man. He dug his claws into his shoulders as he opened his mouth.

"Who are you? Where's Noel?"

"Beast Boy, it is me! Noel!"

"You're not Noel! You don't look a thing like him! WHERE IS HE!" Beast Boy roared.

"Ugh, don't do that! Your breath is almost as foul as that stuff you sprayed on me yesterday!"

That made Beast Boy hesitate. The only ones who had seen that were his fellow Titans.

"If you ARE Noel, then what the hell…" Beast Boy said, getting off but ready to pounce again if he needed to.

"Sorry Beast Boy, I should have told you. But I wanted to get to know you a bit better. This…is really me. It's who I was before the…accident."

"Then what was you before?"

"I'm not sure…it's like when I…changed….I got a whole new body out of it. Watch. Cover your eyes."

And Noel slammed his hands together.

Blinding white light filled the room, causing Beast Boy to wince. It faded quickly, and he looked.

The taller, more muscular, white-haired and white-suited Savior was back.

"Whoa. Now THAT'S a useful secret identity."

"Indeed. The hand clap is just for dramatics: I can do this simply by willing it. Also, any damage I sustained in this body seems to heal much quicker if I go back to my original body, which suffers none of the injuries of THIS form. It's why I changed back: Raven really gave me a whipping."

"Yeah, she's like that, isn't she?" Beast Boy said as he turned back into his human form.

"Beast Boy, would you mind…not telling the others yet? I want to...integrate myself some more."

"Sure…and my name is Logan. Garfield Logan. Call me Gar."

"I will…Garfield."

"Oh you just be ASKING to get your head bit off now!"

7:15 PM

"I am amazed you managed to find a place that would go to all the trouble for Gar's toppings." Savior said. "Tofu cheese ain't exactly…"

"Yeah. We saved the guy's shop from being demolished a few times. He remembers us." Robin said as he shoved another meat-laded slice into his mouth. Savior would have commented on his table manners, except Starfire's were even worse.

"Hey Robin, you forgot to log out of your e-mail properly…" Cyborg said from over by the computer.

"Yeah looks like you got a bunch more too." Beast Boy said. Robin groaned and walked over.

Raven got up from the couch she was on and started for the kitchen when a Shimmer-supported cup of tea was suddenly in front of her.

"Peace?" Savior pleaded. Raven cast him a harsh glare, but she took the tea.

"…….You have a knack for this, I will admit." She said after a sip, and headed into the kitchen.

"Oh for the love of god, DELETED!"

7:45 PM

"Well looks like the villains kept themselves busy with non-evil deeds today. Rare." Cyborg said.

"So what should we do?" Savior asked.

"Robin and Starfire went to get movies. Now if they can only find something we'll all agree to watch. Not the easiest of tasks." Cyborg said.

"I find the trash you people usually find entertaining hard to swallow, indeed." Raven said from her corner.

"Hey Raven, remember when Starfire brought back that film "Snow Falling on Cedars" and Cyborg got all mad but he tried watching it anyway and by the end he was totally captivated? Who knew ironhead was such a softy inside!" Beast Boy laughed. Cyborg lunged at him, but Beast Boy turned into a monkey and leapt away.

"We found it!' Starfire said as she ran into the room.

"Found what?" Cyborg asked.

"That film Noel said was his favorite! Man Eats Dog!"

"Man BITES Dog." Robin said as he followed Starfire with two bags of newly purchased junk food.

Savior suddenly looked pale.

"Uh guys I REALLY don't think you wanna watch that…"

"Nonsense! You clearly have some taste! How bad can it be?" Cyborg replied. Savior's worried look increased.

"Guys, trust me, this REALLY isn't the kind of film you want to watch…"

"Oh what's wrong, is there a little gore? Bah! We've sat through all kinds of Raven's films stuffing our faces, nothing happened there! We can handle it!"

"Really guys it's a…"

"We want to see the film you loved so much, Noel! Why is that bad?" Starfire asked.

"Um Star, I didn't LOVE the film persay, I just…"

"Enough excuses!" Robin said as he put the tape in. "We can handle it!"

"Guys…"

"Whoo hoo! Blood and gore! Blood and gore!" Beast Boy said as he opened a bag of chips.

"GUYS…"

"Man, it's in French with English subtitles? Man I hate subtitles…" Cyborg said.

"GUYS…………!"

"What wonderment will this film have?" Starfire asked. Savior threw up his hands.

"Ok, but know this! I warned you, repeatedly! I take no responsibility for anything that happens here!" Savior said, and he walked over and sat down on a couch near to Raven.

"What's so bad about it?"

Savior glanced over to Raven, surprised to hear her speak.

"Just watch and see."

"Whoo hoo, here we go!"

9:20 PM

As the credits began to roll, Robin numbly picked up the remote and turned the VCR off.

For a few moments everyone was silent, and then as one, everyone looked at Savior.

"I warned you." He said defensively.

"What the hell was that?" Cyborg said.

"I WARNED YOU. That film is not for light viewing."

"Oh dear god, it WAS just a film, right? Not actually a…" Beast Boy said. Noel couldn't believe it, but Beast Boy had actually turned GREENER.

"It was a film. That was done on purpose to give it a documentary feel."

"………NOEL WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? THAT WAS ONE OF THE SICKEST THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN, AND I'M A PARTNER TO BATMAN!" Robin suddenly jumped up and yelled. Starfire wasn't there: Robin had escorted her from the room a third into the film, her eyes wide and filled with horror.

"That film is the best black comedy of society's sick obsession with turning criminals into celebrities I have ever seen. It shows so much on how so many of us think and how sick and twisted it is when viewed from afar that you have to laugh or you'll start screaming. That's why it's my favorite film: because it hits that nail so hard on the head."

"But…oh geez…but they…I mean…" Cyborg said.

"Looking at humanity's ugly side is never pleasant, Cyborg. If it makes you feel better, they exaggerated a lot of things in that film. But probably not that much. Humanity has a lot of rotten things squirming in the shadows of the veneer we call civilization. I am going to bed now. I am sorry if I traumatized Starfire Robin, but I gave you repeated warnings and you refused to listen. My hands, are clean." Savior said defensively, and got up and left.

"Feel like breaking the tape…" Cyborg said.

"That was a good film. I can see why he liked it, in his own way." Raven said, as she walked past, leaving the room herself.

"Figures she would like it! Aw man, make a note Robin! Never let Noel pick the films!"

"Right. Now if you excuse me, I am going to try and help Starfire and hope she won't be seeing a shrink for the next ten years."

"You do that. Me and Beaten All The Time Boy are going to play some games to get that bad taste out of our mouth."

"Oh shut up!"

9:30 PM

"I'm ok Robin! It was just a movie! All fake! Though I wonder why people would like to put such unpleasant stuff on film." Starfire said. "You do not need to commit gratuitous acts of bodily harm on Noel."

"I may do it anyway."

"Relax Robin! Let me sing you the song of Happiness! It will surely remind you that there are good things about humans!"

9:47 PM

"Ok Star that's enough I understand I'll be going now…!" Robin said as he practically ran out the door.

"But Robin, there are still 745 verses!"

10:10 PM

"Hey man, I had enough with Noel's button mashing earlier, don't you start!"

"I'm not! I am using skill! But this character is just so set up that sometimes mashing on the buttons produces better results!"

"Well if you're using skill, pick another character!"

"………..No."

11:25 PM

"Man I wonder if Superman gets these DELETED!" Robin said. He was back at his e-mail, finishing the clean up.

"Dear Robin you're a great leader and are so strong and brave I hope we can fight for the next decade or more" oh how touching DELE…wait…" Robin said. "Yours forever, Starfire. PS: Is that scary movie over yet?" AW MAN, I KNEW IT! Noel's movie-picking privileges are hereby suspended for eternity! Ok last one…"

"I'm going to bed. Night Robin." Beast Boy said as he walked past.

"Night Gar." Robin replied.

Beast Boy left the room and headed down the hall. The last thing he heard was a yell of "DELETED!"

1:00 AM

The moon was out, and it's light shone softly through the window as the door quickly opened.

The figure glided in slowly, barely touching the ground and not making a sound above a whisper. Slowly, it glided over to the bed where Savior slept.

Noel stirred as the figure glided up above him, but only after the cloaked figure drifted down and settle on top of him did his eyes snap open.

"What the hell…?" he said, and his eyes widened as he saw who it was. "Raven? What are you…?"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhh." Raven said, putting her finger against Noel's mouth. Noel went silent, totally aware of Raven's body on top of his, as she removed her finger and leaned down.

Her lips were soft with a very slight bitter taste from her tea, and Noel's shock quickly faded. He reached up and gently took the side of her face, returning her affection. He closed his eyes, savoring her.

He opened them.

OH MY GOD HER SKIN WAS RED AND SHE HAD FOUR EYES AND SHE HAD FANGS AND SHE WAS GOING TO EAT HIS FACE…!

"GUH!" Noel gasped as he sat up in bed. He took deep gasping breaths as his brain resettled itself and came back to reality.

"Dream. Just a dream." Noel said. He pulled back his blanket and sheets and switched on the light. Clad only in boxers up got up and began pacing, trying to dry the sweat that soaked his form.

"What's going on?" he asked the mirror. "What is it with her? I've seen women with her dark gothic looks before. What's so special about Raven? Geez, what happened Noel…" Noel said to the mirror. "And what the hell was that thing at the end? Man Freud would have a field day…"

His breathing was back to normal, but Noel still felt unsettled. Both by the dream and by his feelings.

"Can I…should I…could I…dare I?" Noel pondered. He traced a vague design on the table top. "Raven…"

He found no answers with the table, and eventually Noel went back to bed, losing his uncertainty in the brief unknowingness of sleep.

His dreams were filled with dark slashes and the slight bitter taste of almonds.

* * *

Well well, isn't this interesting! Hopefully. Well, what will come of this? I know what will come next chapter: The Troika spring their trap! What awaits the Titans next? Except the ending theme of course.

Raven: NO!

T-E-E-N!

T-I-T-A-N-S!

Teen Titans, let's go!

Raven: RAGE.


	5. Savior: Operation Market Garden

Chapter 5: Operation Market Garden

SR: A bad forth wall breaking comedy sketch while Savior is 'investigating'.

"Are you SURE you want to do this Noel?" Robin asked.

"Yes. I know what happens to superheroes that are one-trick ponies. I can't rely on the Shimmer all the time. I need to improve my other skills.'

"So you want to fight ME, in hand to hand, without the Shimmer? Without myself holding back?" Robin asked.

"No pain, no gain." Savior said, and assumed a combat stance. Robin's eyebrow arched.

"Noel, first forget EVERYTHING you ever saw on TV. That stance leaves you open and you look ridiculous."

"Ok ok…." Savior said, wondering if he should go into the crane stance to annoy Robin.

"Do you have any actual martial arts training?"

"Some when I was younger. About three months worth."

"Why?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Ok then." Robin said, as he assumed his own stance. "Ready, BEGIN!"

Savior swung the first punch, but Robin ducked under it and rammed his elbow into Savior's back. Had he been in an actual fight against a human, Robin would have aimed for a pressure point to quickly end the fight. Then again, most people did not possess such combat skill to do that, so he figured it would be better if he used simply strikes to try and train Noel. It wasn't like Noel was going to try and pick a fight with Lady Shiva. On the other hand, Noel had said no mercy, and Robin used none. He aimed his strike in such a way that he wouldn't damage Noel's spine, but besides that, no punch was pulled.

And Noel felt it as he half-grunted, half-yelled before spinning around with a backhand. He telegraphed it badly, as Robin dodged it and blasted Noel with three punches across the face. Noel stumbled back as blood began to drip from his nose.

"Too much?"

"No, keep going!" Noel said as he did a roundhouse. It wasn't half bad, but Robin still saw it coming and ducked under it. He slammed his hand into Noel's other knee, causing it to buckle, and then he twisted his body and swung his leg up, slamming his foot across Noel's face. Noel flew a few feet from the impact. He coughed and spat.

"Sorry about the floor."

"Don't worry about-OOOF!" Robin gasped as Noel kicked him in the gut. Noel got to his feet and swung at Robin again, but Robin blocked it and grabbed Noel's arm, flipping him over him and slamming him hard to the floor.

"Not a bad kick. It would have worked better against someone not wearing body armour." Robin said as Savior got up. Blood was flowing freely from Noel's nose now, and one of his eyes was blackening. He didn't look mad though, just determined.

"Use your staff."

"What? Noel, this is one sided enough. I don't want to seriously hurt you…"

"I would rather be seriously hurt by a comrade in training then by a foe in mortal combat. The staff, please."

"Are you SURE?"

"Deathly." Noel said. Robin didn't like the way he said that, but he popped out his staff anyway.

"YAH!" Savior yelled as he charged. Robin prepared to dodge him, but Savior did a fake and came at Robin from the left. Robin altered his plan and tripped Savior with the staff. He hit the ground hard, almost landing full on his face. Robin winced.

"That was foolish on my part…don't feel bad…HAH!" Savior said as he started getting up and then tried to backhand Robin. Robin blocked it and twirled, whacking Savior with his staff across the back before spinning again and bringing it up across Savior's face. Savior hit the ground again.

"Is this enough Noel?"

"NO! I can handle the pain…" Savior said as he got back up. Robin's stomach sank when he saw Noel: one of his eyes was severely blackened and beginning to swell shut, and now his upper lip had been split open. He felt like a bully.

Robin heard a sudden gasp, and turned his head to see Starfire looking in shock at Noel and then at Robin.

"Robin! How could you! I told you not to hurt Noel, and here you are doing it anyway!" Starfire said.

"What? NO NO STAR! This isn't what it looks like!"

"I thought my opinions matter to you! But instead you decide to follow your brutal urges…!" Starfire said, looking like her heart had been broken.

"No Star! It's…"

"STAR!" Savior suddenly said firmly. Starfire looked over to Noel, her heartbreak at Robin's "betrayal" temporarily put on the back burner.

"Oh Noel I am sorry he hurt you! I should have listen and not watched the movie!"

"What are you talking about Star? Robin is training me. I asked for this."

"You…did?"

"He's only attacking me with his fists, not the Shimmer. That's why he looks so bad. Plus, he asked me not to hold back. We're not fighting Star." Robin said.

"But…Noel, why would you engage Robin in hand to hand? His skills in that field are many times greater then yours! Why would you wish to be hurt?"

"Because it will make me a better person, Starfire."

Starfire looked confused.

"It will? How?"

"There's an expression on Earth Starfire. "Pain is weakness leaving the body." I asked for this. Don't blame Robin."

"I…well…oh my I'm confused…" Starfire said.

"Just watch. And Robin, don't you hold back just because your girlfriend is watching."

"What? She's not my girlfriend!"

"She's NOT?"

"NO!" Robin said, blushing slightly.

"Well you could've fooled me." Savior said as he assumed his more conservative combat stance.

"Don't hurt Savior Robin! Oh, and don't hurt Robin either Savior."

"HE gets the first worry? I must be...WHOA!" Robin said as he did a Matrix-like ducking move under Savior's improving but still clumsy punch. He swung and whacked Savior across the ribs with his staff, and when he bent over he rammed the staff across Savior's back. Starfire gasped.

"ROBIN!"

"I'm ok…" Savior said, though his words lacked conviction as he tried to get up, holding his ribs.

"Enough Noel, at this rate…"

"I can take it! I can!" Noel yelled, and much to Robin's surprise he took a swing at him again.

Enough. It had to put Noel down before he seriously hurt himself with this strange act of masochism.

Robin dodged the punch and rammed the staff into Savior's gut, and then he grabbed him and slammed his knee into his face. Savior reeled back, and Robin gave him four quick solid whacks across the face with his staff before he swung and slammed him with a golf-club like swing that actually sent Savior flying backwards several feet before he hit the wall.

"ENOUGH! NO MORE TRAINING!" Starfire cried, as she ran over to Savior as he tried to get up and couldn't. "Oh Noel I am sorry I watched that movie and made Robin mad at you!"

"Not your fault…I asked for this…I really did Star…" Noel muttered.

"You are not fighting him any more! I will help you!" Starfire said as she easily picked up Noel. "This was mean Robin!"

"But Star…"

"Don't blame him Starfire. If anything, blame me because I was stupid enough to challenge Robin to a no holds barred fistfight…"Savior muttered.

Robin followed the two as Starfire carried Savior out, trying to remember where he kept the medical supplies since he had moved them…

* * *

"WHOA! What happened to you? Are we being attacked?" Beast Boy asked when he came into the lounge and saw Starfire pressing a bandage on Noel's battered face.

"I was training with Robin…I didn't want to hold back…"

"Geez, that's brutal! And stupid."

"I know, I know…" Savior said.

"I'll get Raven! She can heal wounds!" Beast Boy said.

"No wait…don't trouble her…" Savior was saying, but Beast Boy was already gone.

"I think the bleeding has stopped. Oh my god Savior I am so sorry…" Starfire said.

"Star, for the last time, IT IS NOT ROBIN'S FAULT. Don't blame him. He was careful. He didn't break or dislocate anything. It looks worse then it is." _Though it feels about as bad._ Savior added mentally.

"Savior, are you sure? Robin did not beat you up because of the movie or because you said I was his girlfriend?"

"No…and I'm surprised you're not…"

"Why?"

"You're always together…and not just that…there's just…something…" Savior muttered.

"Why do you see that something and Robin doesn't…" Starfire said quietly to herself.

"What Star?" Savior said, and winced. He was starting to get a headache.

"Oh nothing! Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"No…" Savior muttered. Starfire's normal loud cheery speaking tone was making his headache worse. "I'll be ok. Go do something…make out with Robin or whatever…just leave me alone…"

"Make…out…?"

"You know, kiss! Or whatever! Just go, please!" Savior said, his pain starting to make him cross.

"Will that make you feel better?" Starfire asked, confused.

"YES! Just go, please!"

"Ok…" Starfire said, as she got up and left, still looking confused.

Savior was alone for about ten seconds before Raven rose up in the shadows near him.

"My, Beast Boy wasn't kidding. What possessed you to do this act of madness, Noel?" Raven said as she looked at her battered comrade. The bleeding had stopped, but one of Noel's eyes was still severely blackened and the other was heading that way as well.

"Just trying to improve…Raven don't tax yourself…"

"Nonsense. You may have messed up my room but there's no need for you to be hurting. At least let me fix your face up, you'll be nearly blind if that swelling keeps going.

"……..Ok…but just that…this is my fault, you shouldn't have to bear my crosses…" Savior said, as Raven gently laid a hand on the side of his face. He hoped she didn't feel the different kind of pain that awoke in his chest.

Raven winced as Savior's ache from his injuries flowed into her, and cut if off as the bruises in his face lessened, though they didn't go away totally.

"Thanks." Savior said.

"You're welcome. Now, again, are you stupid? You must be! Challenging Robin to a fistfight! You stupid macho men!"

* * *

Starfire ran into Robin as he was carefully carrying a cup down a hallway.

"Robin, I am confused! Savior has requested a kind of medicine that I have never heard of!"

"Oh? What?"

"I am not sure if it s right Robin, but he said it would make him feel better…" Starfire said.

"Well if he says it will you should go get it or…"

"Ok!" Starfire said, and then reached out, grabbed Robin, and kissed him full on the mouth.

Robin's shock was so great he dropped the cup. He would have said that hearing it shatter pulled him out of his shock and made him break the kiss, but that would have been a lie, as it took him nearly eight seconds after the cup's demise to get his arms up and push Starfire away.

"Kory, what are you DOING?"

"He said that making out with you would make him feel better! That is what you do, right? Did I do it wrong?" Starfire said.

"No! Yes! I think there's been some confusion! Aw man I broke the special drink I made for Noel, now I have to go back and make another one…" Robin said as he turned around.

Beast Boy and Cyborg stood at the end of the hallway, both their jaws wide open. Robin's eyes widened and he blushed slightly.

"That was a mistake! A misunderstanding! Go somewhere else you two! I, uh…drink for Noel, um, er…" Robin sputtered, and then ran at the two and past them, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Did I do something wrong friends?" Starfire asked, confused again.

"I don't know Star, what the heck was that for?"

"Well…"

* * *

"That mixture is a special one from Batman. It'll help you heal quicker, and make you feel better. Now be careful, it's…"

Savior drank it in two gulps.

"Bad-tasting…" Robin finished. "Now Noel, just what did you tell Starfire?"

"What?"

"What did you tell her!"

"What happened?" Raven asked Beast Boy. Beast Boy whispered in Raven's ear and his eyes widened slightly. "Oh."

"Robin, be specific. What happened?" Savior asked. Beast Boy bounded over and whispered in Savior's ear as well. "Oh."

Before any more could be said, an alarm suddenly went off. Robin immediately forgot his semi-interrogation as he leapt over to the computer.

"Did that monster come back?" Beast Boy asked.

"No, the Injustice League broke out!" Robin replied.

"Better late then never I suppose…" Beast Boy muttered.

"Let's go Titans, villains breaking out of jail tend to be in a VERY foul mood!" Robin said.

"Ok guys, maybe this time…" Savior said as he started to get up.

"No Noel, you're not coming. You're hurt, partially because of me, and I don't want to risk you aggravating those injuries out in the field. You stay here." Robin said.

"But Robin…"

"Savior as your leader I am giving you a direct order, STAY HERE!" Robin yelled.

"……..Ok." Savior said, sitting back down again.

"See you later alligator!" Beast Boy said, as he turned into the animal he had just spoken off and left the room. In a few seconds all the Titans were gone.

"Alone again, naturally." Savior said.

* * *

Elsewhere, a small and mean looking boy turned away from a computer he was manipulating, a wicked grin on his face.

"The morons fell for it!"

* * *

Savior had turned on the TV and then turned if off again. He sighed and felt the side of his face that Raven had touched.

"I say something to make Starfire leave and Robin gets a kiss out of it. All I get is a dream which becomes a nightmare." Savior said, and sighed.

Something started beeping, the computer that Robin usually answered. Savior sat on the couch for a few seconds, wondering whether to answer it, and then he got up and walked over. He felt better, but he was still hurting some as he pressed the button.

"Titans Tower."

"Robin please." Came a husky metallic tone, the kind that one could only muster if one was a robot or was speaking through an electronic voice scrambler.

"Robin's not in at the moment." Savior replied. He wondered if he should ask to take a message.

"Who is this?"

"Savior. I just joined."

"Savior you say? Why are you there?"

"I asked Robin to teach me a lesson in the School of Hard Knocks. It was a hell of a lesson. So I'm here while the Titans deal with whatever problem they have run off to stop. Robin's direct order."

"Oh. Well tell him that Oracle needs to contact him. Gotham may be having problems with the Clench again."

"Ok miss."

"I can see you on the cameras. Robin really beat you up bad, didn't he?"

"My fault. Goodbye."

Savior wished he hadn't bid adieu so quickly in a bit, as again he was left with his thoughts.

"Maybe I should ask Robin and the others about Raven…see what they say…"

And then Savior got an idea.

* * *

Some time later, Savior stood in front of Raven's door. He tried it. It was locked this time. He wasn't surprised. However, the morphing nature of the Shimmer made an excellent lock pick.

"And I'm not even the master of unlocking." Savior said as he went into the room.

He felt rotten. Raven had every right to privacy as he did, and he was violating it. But on the other hand "love made fools of us all". Savior didn't know if what he was feeling was love (yet) but it was intense, and such feelings generally demanded reciprocation.

But he knew enough to tell that Raven was rather aloof. A sudden declaration would probably just be met with scorn and mockery. No, it would be better to be subtle and try to make her feel the same way he felt. Such a deed was quite difficult, but Savior was determined to try anyway. But to start he needed to know stuff about Raven,

He hoped to lessen his bad deed (hopefully) by the fact he wasn't going to touch Raven's personal stuff. Her mirror, obviously. But if she had any private journals or books in which she wrote in he wasn't going to read them. But the rest of her books…fair game. Also anything else he could deem useful.

(Removed scene here, where Svaior looked around Raven's room)

Savior sat on Raven's bed. He ran his fingers along her pillow and brought them up, trying to see if he could find a perfume or other scent that he could link. He sighed again.

"What am I doing, I'm turning into a stalker. Ugh! This was a bad idea." Savior said, getting up. He quickly smoothed out Raven's bed and made sure all her books were in the same place as before, and then he carefully left her room, locking the door behind him.

He heard voices as he headed back to the lounge. Were his teammates back already?

A high, nasty sounding voice suddenly speaking very loudly made him reconsider that possibility.

"I told you their security system would be easy to hack! Amateurs!"

Intruders! Savior got ready to run out and confront them when his body suddenly reminded him he was still beat up. "Damn, better to be Solid Snake rather then Duke Nukem…where did THAT come from? Beast Boy and Cyborg must be rubbing off on me…"

* * *

"Robin, I think you got some bad information." Beast Boy said as he carried two beefy men over his shoulders. This task was made easier by the fact he was an even beefier gorilla.

"Maybe, but I could have SWORE they said the Injustice League was breaking out." Robin said.

The directions had led them to a prison break, all right. It had only been a human one though. The guards were starting to handle it when the Titans had shown up, and while they were annoyed at the sudden presence of metahuman teenagers showing up to do their jobs they had let them help. It had been quick.

"Whatever it was it's done. Let's go home." Raven said.

"Seconded." Cyborg said, as he tried to smooth out a dent that one punk had made in his arm with a crowbar. The punk had come out of that particular fight a lot worse then Cyborg.

"Yeah, let's. Probably just a computer glitch." Robin said.

* * *

"You know I'm so brilliant I surprise even myself!" Gizmo said as he worked on the computer.

"Cram it shorty, you're not impressing anyone." Mammoth said as he went through the fridge again. "Hey, they actually have food that's fresh this time!"

"Don't start pigging out Mammoth, we need to be alert. If we fail again…" Jinx said.

"We're NOT going to fail! The only reason the Titans won last time was because they used our own tactics against us! When we ad surprise on our side, we beat them, rather easily I might say! Same tactic! We wait till they come back, and then we turn their own security system against them! And after that wears them down, we attack! And this time we finish them, FOR GOOD." Gizmo snarled.

"Sure sure. Just make sure the systems are ready to actually turn on them." Jinx said.

"Already done! Oh I am just SO brilliant!" Gizmo said as he turned around. "Victory is at hand! Nothing can stop us!"

"Sorry, your plan is about to be Operation Market Gardened."

A Shimmer strand lashed down from the ceiling and slammed against the computer, and it violently sparked and then blew up, throwing Gizmo across the room. He screamed in rage and activated his jet pack before he landed.

"What the hell…?" Jinx said as she got up from where she had been sitting.

Savior slowly lowered himself down from the ceiling he had crawled across, using the Shimmer as a gripping tool. Man, he was really ripping off Spider Man now! He wondered if a lawsuit would be coming soon.

"Who the snot are you?" Gizmo snapped.

"Was that an insult? Geez. I'm Savior. I'm the new guy."

"New guy? You didn't say anything about the new guy Gizmo!" Mammoth said.

"There wasn't anything in my last observations!" Gizmo protested.

"Ah, Operation Market Garden strikes again." Savior said.

"What the crud is Operation Market Garden?" Gizmo yelled.

"Aren't you supposed to be smart? Fine, I'll tell you…" Savior said, even as he frantically hunted around behind him with the Shimmer, looking for the emergency switch that would get the Titans back ASAP.

"Operation Market Garden was a battle plan that happened during the Second World War. I don't recall all the details, but the basic gist was that a big group of troops would go around the German's main army and strike at Berlin. It was apparently a great idea and well planned: the general who was directing it was known for his conservation so no one would expect him to try such a bold and aggressive move, the Germans were having other problems, etc etc etc. Anyway, the crux of the plan was three bridges would have to be taken in order for everything else to work. But since these bridges weren't considered ultra-important they weren't guarded too heavily. So everything was in place, and a big bunch of troops started marching as a group of planes went ahead to take the bridges. They took the first one, no problem. Second one, ditto. But the THIRD…" Savior said, chuckling. _Where's that bloody button?_

"You see, something happened that wasn't in the plans because it was so random that it couldn't have been prepared for: a German artillery division just happened to be in the town next to that bridge on leave. They didn't know the attack was coming, the Germans had no hint, they just by sheer bad luck happened to be at that third bridge on leave. So they attacked and ultimately the whole plan fell apart. All because a single bit of bad luck caused that artillery division to be there. Nothing that could be planned for, nothing that could be expected. Unless you're a god, and men are quite famously not that." Savior said. _Blast, the switch must have been destroyed along with the computer! I'll have to go find one of the others, but how do I do that with Short, Pink, and Ugly here?_

"What's the point?" Mammoth asked.

"The point is, you expected to ambush the Titans and had all the details worked out…except me, who you didn't see coming. Operation Market Garden."

"Oh yes, but now YOU see boy…" Jinx said. "The Allies had to retreat when that division messed up their plans. But WE…just have to pound you into the ground. Which we WILL do."

"You think you can?' Savior said with false bravado.

"Looks like someone did half the job for us. Pounding you into mush will be both simple and a pleasure. Then we'll prepare for the rest of the Titans." Mammoth said as he cracked his knuckles.

Savior was acutely aware of his previous sustained injuries. Robin's drink had helped, but he was far from tip top shape, and he was all alone against a group that had actually bested the Titans in combat.

"Gonna run, chicken?" Gizmo taunted as Savior took a step back. _Have to stall them long enough to either find another switch or until my teammates get back…but can I?_

"I'm gonna pound you so bad your momma will cry when she sees you!" Mammoth said.

Savior's apprehension was suddenly flooded away by a surge of hot rage.

"What did you say about my MOTHER!"

The Shimmer snapped out of both his hands, lashing around like an animal fighting to the death.

"Ohhhhh, scary." Jinx chuckled. "My lone piece of advice, little boy. Run away."

"General Macarthur said it best…I shall not retreat…I SHALL ADVANCE IN ANOTHER DIRECTION! HAH!" Savior yelled, as he leapt at the Troika.

It was on.

* * *

Oh my, Savior alone and injured against the whole Troika? Will the Titans save him, or will the lone deed Savior ever made as a Titan be a brave last stand against those who would destroy them…

Raven:…………I almost wish we were closing with the theme.


	6. Savior: We Are Still Here

Chapter 6: "We Are Still Here"

The training room was silent. The punching bags and weight machines stood, motionless and unused. The blood and sweat spilled earlier had been cleaned away and the room was ready to be used again.

Just not in the way it was supposed to.

One of the walls suddenly exploded outward in a loud crashing noise, as chunks of stone and plaster pelted the floor and Savior flew through the hole he had just made, rolling along the floor for about fifteen feet before the Shimmer stopped him. He leapt to his feet.

Chuckling, Mammoth pushed his way through the same hole, making it big enough for him through sheer brute strength.

"Please boy, I'm hungry. Can't you provide more for me then an appetizer?" Mammoth chuckled, and then charged at Savior.

Forty seconds in and he was already on the ropes. The Troika wouldn't let him escape and go hunt for the switch, and Mammoth had spent the last twenty of those seconds tossing him around like a rag doll. The good news was, Savior could use the Shimmer freely (indeed, a Shimmer-formed shield on his back was the only reason he had gone through the wall without killing himself). On the other hand, Mammoth was a lot stronger then Robin.

Well, the bigger they were…

"FEED ME!" Mammoth was yelling as he charged. Savior didn't know if Mammoth was speaking of a metaphorical hunger for battle or if he really just wanted to snack on Savior. And he didn't want to find out, as he snapped out twin Shimmer strands that wrapped around Mammoth's legs.

"Eat floor." Savior said, and yanked Mammoth's legs out from under him, causing the giant to fall violently on his face. "High fibre."

"You asshole! You're gonna pay for that!" Mammoth roared. (Writer's Note: I promise I will not try to overuse the word "roar" like I did in Chapter 3 with the sludge monster).

"I'd rather not." Savior said, and leapt to the side as Mammoth tried to grab him, grabbing a heavy hand weight with the Shimmer. "Have a dumbbell you dumb bell!" he yelled, smashing the heavy weight into the side of Mammoth's head.

Mammoth screamed in pain. But also in anger, and he renewed his charge. He was too close to dodge.

So Savior leapt up and wrapped the Shimmer around Mammoth's thick meaty wrists and shoved his arms down. Keeping them down, Savior pulled himself over, using the Shimmer strands to float above Mammoth, and as the giant looked up Savior began doing his best tapdance on his face.

"Charleston! Charleston! Something something something! Some dance, some-ARRRGGGHHHH!" Savior screamed as a laser blast hit him full in the back, burning a large hole in his jacket.

"Bingo!" Gizmo said as he flew in on a glider jet-pack. Mammoth reached up, using Savior's distraction to grab him.

"You son of a bitch!" the giant roared, and threw Savior at another wall.

He should have gotten the Shimmer off his arms first, as Savior flipped in mid-air and used the Shimmer to throw Mammoth instead. His bellow of rage was cut off as he crashed through the wall, nearly caving the whole thing in.

"Hey! Candygram for Mr. Mongo!" Gizmo said as he snapped a new part on his back-mounted laser cannon and began firing powerful charged shots at Savior.

Savior wove a Shimmer shield in front of him and ran at an angle, dodging whatever shots he could.

"Can't play defense forever!" Gizmo chanted.

"Indeed." Savior replied, and then the shield sprang off his arms via a Shimmer strand and rammed into Gizmo, screwing up his jetpack and sending him flying away cursing.

Jinx was making her way daintily through the hole, not a care in the world, as Savior turned to her. She waved. "Hi!"

Savior lashed a Shimmer-whip at her, Jinx ducked it. He slashed the strand out again and Jinx flipped and cart wheeled away, laughing. Springing up, she laughed and fired a hex blast at Savior, causing the floor to cave him and sending him crashing through to the next floor, rubble burying him.

"Nice one!" Gizmo said as he flew back, his glider fixed. He flew down.

A pile of rubble flew up as Savior pushed the heavy stones off.

"Aren't looking so good now, are you?" Gizmo laughed, and then a blade snapped out of his jetpack. "CHARGE!"

Gizmo blasted at Savior, preparing evasive maneuvers if Savior tried to hit him with the Shimmer.

Savior didn't. Instead he shrugged his ruined, torn up leather jacket off, and when Gizmo was almost on him he threw it over Gizmo's head.

"HEY! I can't see! HEY! CRUD! AHHHH!" Gizmo yelled as Savior wrapped the Shimmer around his jacket-covered form and began spinning him around like a merry go-round.

"Round and round and round you go, where you stop, only I know!" Savior yelled and finally threw Gizmo into a wall.

"Hello insect!" came a booming voice behind Savior. _Gah! He stuck up behind me! How can such a big guy move so quietly?_

Savior never got to find out as he turned into a crashing punch, barely blocked by the Shimmer. Savior hit the wall a dozen feet away (though he didn't go through it this time), and no sooner had he landed was Mammoth there, bringing up a foot and trying to bring it down on Savior's head. Shimmer strands lashed out and tried to keep the foot away, but Mammoth's immense strength brought great pressure down, and Savior's whole body screamed with effort as he tried to keep his head from being crushed.

"Hey Mammoth…would you like to be a farmer?" Savior grunted.

"What?"

Another Shimmer strand flew out of Savior's shoulder, a small amount of the material twisting into a ball at the end, as he rammed it as hard as he could into Mammoth's testicles.

"OWWWWWWWWWIYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mammoth screamed, forgetting Savior's head as he grabbed his injured manhood.

"There's a few achers." Savior said, as he wrapped the Shimmer around Mammoth's neck, and with one quick thrust pushed him upward. Mammoth's journey continued until the ceiling, where the top of his head rammed into a steel bar. He fell back down, groaning, as Savior got out of the way of his huge form.

And then a steel band wrapped around his arm.

"Quid pro quo, Captain Tentacles." Gizmo quipped from his new spider apparatus, and then sent a giant surge of electricity through the band. Savior screamed as several thousand volts zapped him.

"Gizmo's Offensive 2: Electric Boogaloo." Gizmo quipped.

"You call that a quip? And I thought my lines were bad!" Savior yelled, and then severed the steel line with a Shimmer-blade. Gizmo snarled and opened fire on Savior with several laser cannons on the legs. Savior ran through the wide-arcing shots and grabbed one of Gizmo's spider legs with the Shimmer, pulling him off balance. However, the laser cannons kept working, and Savior got blasted several times before he managed to wrap all the legs up with a Shimmer strand and tear them off.

"CRUD! You snot head!" Gizmo cursed as he got up and pulled out another laser cannon. Where the hell was he keeping all those weapons on his small stature?

"Dance! Dance! HA-UH?" Gizmo laughed, and that cost him dearly, as it kept him from firing the weapon. Savior's Shimmer lashed out and did a quick blur of motion in front of Gizmo.

"What?"

The laser gun fell apart. Savior had Shimmer-bladed it into pieces.

"10-31! 10-31! Hike!" Savior yelled as he suddenly ran at Gizmo. "PUNT!"

And Savior kicked Gizmo like a football, sending him flying across the room, yelling in anger and pain.

Savior stopped, panting. He was exhausted and hurting. He had to find that switch. He turned around.

"Hello." Jinx said as Savior turned around.

Jinx had expected Savior to try something with that white energy he used. He hadn't expected him to rear back and punch her in the face.

Savior, on the other hand, had had enough. Who cared if she was a girl, this was life or death! If you couldn't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen!

And he didn't stop with the punch, as he added another one, and then grabbed Jinx by her pink hair as he formed a Shimmer-band on the bridge of his nose to protect him before he rammed his head into her face.

"Ah! You basblard!" Jinx snarled, as she grabbed Savior's hair in turn and jerked his head down as she brought her knee up, ramming it into his forehead. He reeled back and she slammed him with a roundhouse. "Motherlucber! You broke my nod you gig!"

A hex blast sent Savior flying through yet another wall and into yet another room: the garage, where the gang kept their "personal" cars. Coughing, Savior got up, looking around.

"There's the switch!" he saw, spying a big red box at one end of the room.

Hex blasts flew into the room, blowing up one of Robin's cars (aw man Robin was gonna kill him!). Needing more time, Savior grabbed Cyborg's jeep (sorry Cyborg) and threw it at the hole, clogging it up for the moment. He ran for the switch.

"GRAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Mammoth bellowed as he made his own door, smashing right through the wall. "GONNA KILL YOU YOU…!"

Savior stepped to the side and held out a Shimmer-strand and the raging-mad Mammoth tripped right over it, sending him plowing through Robin's other recreational motorcycles.

Cyborg's jeep exploded out of the hole as Jinx came in, blood dripping down his face and wrecking his impish good looks. She threw another hex blast at Savior but Savior dodged it, running for the switch.

"Looking for this?" Gizmo said as he flew up in front of Savior on another jet-pack. He pressed something and Savior was suddenly stopped dead by thin air, running into a force field.

"Good luck getting through this! Now I believe my friend Mammoth wants to have a word with you." Gizmo said, pointing.

Huge hands clamped onto Savior's shoulders as Mammoth lifted him up and grabbed him in a merciless bear hug, squeezing with all his might. Savior tried to scream, but all that came out of his mouth was a low groan.

"Leave some scraps for me, big guy. This bastard is gonna pay…" Jinx said. Well she seemed to have fixed herself up enough so that her injury didn't affect her speech.

"Gonna crush you into paste little man. Show you what it means to tangle with the Troika!" Mammoth growled as he squeezed again. Savior half-screamed.

And then a Shimmer-strand shot out of his mouth and poked itself into Mammoth's eyes.

"ARGH!" the big man yelled, loosening his grip, and Savior's more conventional Shimmer snapped out of his hands and slammed into Mammoth's ears, throwing off his balance and making him let him go.

"HI-YAH!" Jinx yelled as she leapt in with a slashing air-roundhouse, catching Savior across the face and sending him flying backwards. He bounced a few times and then stopped, trying to get up, pressing one hand against the ground to try and push himself up.

"Oh no you don't! You don't get it, do you? Even IF you could somehow get past Mammoth and I, you will never get around Gizmo's shield! Just surrender! I promise we won't hurt you! Much!" Jinx snapped, as her hands glowed with pink hex energy.

Savior was apparently having a great deal of difficulty getting up, as his hand was still on the ground.

"Just give up Captain Tentacles!" Gizmo laughed from behind his force field.

"My name is SAVIOR. I have studied war strategy most of my life. And I know if you can't breach a defense…you go AROUND IT!"

And then a Shimmer strand burst out of the ground at Gizmo's head. Jinx and Mammoth turned around in shock. He hadn't been trying to get up! He'd put a Shimmer strand into the ground and brought it around and UNDER the shield, his hand pressed to the ground to hide it!

And it was too late to stop it, as it zapped around Gizmo and pulled the switch down.

The alarm went off, a low whooping noise, as Gizmo screamed in frustration and tried to shoot the Shimmer strand. It just flowed back and Gizmo shot the control panel, robbing him of the ability to turn the alarm back off.

"OH YOU ARE SO FUCKING DEAD!" Mammoth roared, as he charged again.

* * *

Robin's belt alarm went off, startling him, as the Titans made their way leisurely back to their tower. Similar alarms went off in Cyborg's circuits.

"Titans, base alarm! Someone's breaking in!" Robin said.

"Oh no, Savior! He's all alone back there!" Starfire said.

"He can handle himself! Except I beat him up! Ah, damn! Raven, you can get there quickest, teleport ahead and we'll follow as soon as possible!"

Raven didn't reply, she just vanished into the shadows at her feet. Starfire grabbed up both Robin and Cyborg while Beast Boy turned into a Swift, the fastest bird in the world, and headed for the tower, the weighed-down but frantic Starfire flying after him.

* * *

The floor of the Titan's lounge suddenly exploded upward as Savior's body flew up through, bounced off the ceiling, and landed on one of the couches.

Gizmo flew up as Savior, his face a bloody mess, reached out with the Shimmer and began throwing everything he could get his hands on him.

"Phone!" Savior said as he grabbed up the nearest one. "IT'S FOR YOU!" The throw was particularly good, smacking Gizmo in his big head with a satisfying _KLONK!_

"GRAGH!" Mammoth bellowed as he leapt up through the whole. Savior met him with a Shimmer battering ram, sending him crashing into the kitchen. He got up, limping on his right leg, and tried to find a way out.

"Forget me handsome?" Jinx said as she ran out of a door and clawed Savior across the face with her nails. Savior's response was to deck Jinx again. Jinx screamed in anger and pain and punched back, and for a few seconds the two stood there punching each other in a scene that was either incredibly silly looking or dangerously serious. Jinx won that fistfight by blasting Savior with a point blank hex blast.

Right into Mammoth's powerful punch, as Savior went crashing through another wall and out onto the observation room, which had a glass ceiling as well as windows.

Savior was barely up before a Gizmo-tossed grenade landed in front of him.

"I really don't mean it Spider-Man." He said.

The grenade went off in Savior's face with as much the same effect as it had on Spider-Man in the movie. Savior nearly went crashing through the window before he managed to stop.

Jinx ran in, firing hex blasts, shattering the windows and putting Savior in the middle of a storm of flying glass. He tried to defend himself…

And then a particularly big shard of glass came slashing down, cutting through the Shimmer.

Savior screamed at the top of his lungs. This wasn't a "ow that hurts" scream or a "That was a really bad blow" scream, it was a "Someone is sticking needles into every nerve in my body while simultaneously frying them with a blowtorch" scream, and Jinx knew it. Savior collapsed, shuddering and moaning.

"Heh, guess it's bad for you to have that thing cut, eh?" Jinx said. Mammoth lumbered in, holding a huge chunk of wall he had ripped off.

"May I?" he asked.

"Crush him." Jinx said. Mammoth made a noise of satisfaction.

Coming out of the incredible fog of pain that had enveloped him, the only weakness of the Shimmer Noel had sound, Savior could barely see the huge piece of rubble Mammoth tossed at him, much less stop it…

But he tried away, lifting up the ragged Shimmer strand and trying to deflect it.

But he couldn't quite…get all…the momentum gone…

The chunk bounced off Savior, and as he fell down, it landed on his left arm. Savior would have screamed again, except his vocal cords were too damaged from his previous scream.

"A Farewell to arms!" Jinx said.

"Ohhhh, I HEARD the bones break on that one. That must HURT." Gizmo said as he flew in. He was glad he had brought extra mobile devices, Captain Tentacles kept wrecking them.

Gasping, trying to keep from passing out, Savior managed to twist his other arm and shoot the Shimmer the hunk of rubble. With a gasp of effort, he lifted it off.

"It's over buddy. Just give up." Mammoth said.

Savior started getting up. The Troika's eyes widened.

His left arm badly broken and hanging limp at his side, Savior got up, took a deep breath, and then held up his still working arm in the best combat pose he could muster.

"How are you STILL STANDING? Are you INSANE?" Jinx said in some horror.

"Why don't you surrender you idiot?" Gizmo said.

"When France had been defeated by Nazi Germany and England had been driven back across the channel, Hitler offered Churchill a peace agreement. Churchill refused it, and hence Hitler began the Bombing of Britain. Every night for months the seemingly endless waves of German planes bombed the cities of England, using god knows how many tons of explosives every night to try and blast the English into submission. And every day the English people would come out and write a message on the rubble: We Are Still Here. They stood even in the face of certain defeat, under terrible punishment, and they loudly proclaimed that they would not be beaten!" Savior snapped.

"But you're just one man." Jinx said.

Savior spat.

"WE. ARE. STILL. HERE."

"Not for long!" Gizmo said, as he brought up yet another laser cannon and began to fire at Savior.

Savior's graceful dodges had become stumbling parodies of what he had done earlier, but he tried anyway. At least until Mammoth slammed his hands down on the ground and threw Savior off his feet.

"Finish it Jinx!"

"My pleasure." Jinx said, and fired a hex blast at the overhead windows above Savior. The shards rained down towards Savior.

Savior closed his eyes and waited for…

Nothing. Nothing at all. Savior opened his eyes and saw the shards were now encased in black energy.

"WHAT? AH CRUD! CAPTAIN TENTACLES KEPT US FROM SETTING UP OUR AMBUSH!" Gizmo yelled as Raven walked out of the shadows.

"Here's glass in your eye." Raven said, and threw the shards at the Troika. They scattered to avoid being impaled.

"Oh my god, Savior…" Raven said, horrified at the injuries her new teammate had suffered.

"Save it. Let's take them down."

"We? You can't be…"

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE!" Mammoth roared as he charged at the two.

Savior lashed him across the face with a Shimmer-whip, and then Raven threw some heavy desks into him, knocking him down.

"Oh, the wannabe sorceress strikes again! Maybe you need another lesson!" Jinx said as she fired hex blasts at Raven. Raven flew out of the way and whipped more glass shards at Jinx: the pink haired girl cart wheeled away.

"Eat light Goth girl!" Gizmo said as he flew behind Raven, having pulled a lightsaber-like laser sword from somewhere. He swung it at her back…

The Shimmer wrapped around him.

"Back. OFF." Savior snarled, and slammed Gizmo into the ground as hard as he could.

Raven turned and picked up Gizmo's lightsaber via telekinesis and threw it at Jinx. All she did was singe a ponytail.

"My hair! You hurt my hair, bitch!" Jinx said as she fired more hex blasts. Raven flew backwards…

Mammoth's massive arms closed around her.

"Mmmmm, blackbird pudding!" Mammoth said.

The Shimmer wrapped around his neck, cutting off his air, and more strands flew over his head and hooked into his nose as Savior pulled Mammoth away. He let Raven go as she gasped for air.

"ARRRGGGHHHHHH!" Mammoth roared, grabbing the Shimmer strands and pulling them out of his nose as he turned around. "I'VE HAD IT! NO MORE!"

"Savior look out…!" Raven screamed, but she was too late.

* * *

Starfire was almost at the tower when the figure came flying out the window, smashed by one of the strongest punches Mammoth had ever thrown. The body, like a rag doll, flew through the window as it shattered around him. For a moment it was almost pretty, a thousand shards of glittering crystal.

"SAVIOR!" Robin screamed as he fell, but there was nothing he could do as the body plummeted to earth.

CRASH!

"Oh no! OH NO!" Starfire cried as she flew down, letting Robin and Cyborg down as she headed for the landing.

Savior had landed on a car and totally trashed it. Perhaps he had managed to use the Shimmer to provide some protection…but he still looked dead.

"Savior! Oh no…no please…" Starfire cried, tears leaking from her eyes as she looked at the man, little more then a boy, who had given all he had and more.

"…………..AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Starfire screamed as her eyes glowed bright green, and then she shot up into the sky, heading for the broken window. Loud noises were already coming from the floor: Raven sounded pretty mad too.

"Is he dead?" Beast Boy said, tears in his eyes.

"Uhhhhhhhhh…" Savior moaned, his eyes blinking slightly.

"He's alive! Go take care of his attackers and get Raven down here!" Robin ordered.

"Already here." Raven said as she appeared out of the shadows. "Starfire's taking care of our little pest problem. Some backup would be appreciated though…"

Cyborg and Beast Boy were already gone, via a grappling hook and a bird-form respectively.

"Noel…oh you stupid fool…whatever possessed you to do this…?" Raven said. The damage was bad and extensive, he might be dying already…

"We are still here…" Savior whispered. "Still…standing…"

And then the darkness claimed him.

* * *

Snatches of voices.

"…best medical attention they have…"

"…Star did you have to blast them so hard? We literally can't find them…!"

"…STAR Labs…too far…"

"…calling in a favor…"

"…lost them…"

"….thank you Wally…"

The darkness claimed Noel Collins again, eager to keep him this time.

* * *

Light again, no focus, no idea where he was…

"He's waking up…"

"We're not done, put him back out."

A red-masked face learned into the picture, the visage murky and unclear.

"Sleep now buddy. We'll help you."

Darkness again.

* * *

"I had no idea that alien could be so damn vicious." Mammoth groaned, as he picked shards of stone out of his skin.

"I theorized her powers are emotionally-linked. You just had to punch him out the window, didn't you, Mammoth? You made her and that Raven so mad they trashed us before we knew what was happening…!" Gizmo said.

"He deserved it. Bastard broke my nose." Jinx said. There had been no fancy medical technicians for her failure: a "doctor" had just SNAPPED the nose back into position (Writer's Note: Yes they can do that. No I don't know how.). Pain for failure.

"I still say the plan was sound! Maybe…!" Gizmo said.

"Save it. We said we could beat them this time for Slade, and you know how headmistress will react now that we have failed…" Jinx said. She was not looking forward to that call. When her teacher was disappointed, bad things happened.

"I say I should talk to her, explain…" Gizmo said.

"No excuses. We said we would defeat them and we failed. I just…" Jinx was saying when the phone rang.

Mammoth gulped.

"We may as well get it over with." Jinx said, and answered the phone.

"Jinx. Yes headmistress. Miss we are so sorry we…" Jinx trailed off as she listened. "Yes mistress. He did?"

Jinx listened a bit more, and then she suddenly went very pale. Mammoth gulped again.

"Yes mistress. I understand. Thank you. Goodbye." Jinx said, and hung up the phone.

"What's our punishment?" Gizmo said, dreading the answer.

"…………Nothing. We're to report back to the dorms after we've healed and get ready for our next assignment." Jinx said.

"What? That's it? No punishment?"

"No. Apparently Slade knew we were going to fail and hence didn't put much faith in us…but…"

"What?"

"Headmistress said Slade had given the job of dealing with the Titans to someone else."

"Who?"

"…………Killjoy."

Gizmo immediately went as pale as Jinx had. Mammoth stared uncomprehendingly.

"What? Who's Killjoy?" he asked.

"A myth. I hoped he was a myth." Jinx said. "I've heard so many things…done as…"

"Oh snot…" Gizmo said, shuddering. "If it really IS Killjoy…"

"Who is Killjoy?" Mammoth asked again.

"Perhaps more accurately would be WHAT is Killjoy."

"What, is he an alien?"

"No, he's a man…and yet he's…something…so terrible…I don't know if what they say about him is true or exaggerated or outright lies, but if half of what they say about him is true…my pity for the Titans is greater then my hate ever could be." Jinx said.

Over the next hour, Jinx and Gizmo told Mammoth about what they had heard.

And after that hour, he was united with his comrades in opinion.

* * *

Light again…clearer this time…lights…and then a dark-masked face…looking into his eyes…

"He's awake. Hello Noel."

"……Bat…man?"

"Yes."

"Bats this really isn't necessary." Came a voice from out of Noel's sight.

"Better to err on the side of caution." Batman replied.

"What…what do you…want…"

"Just a few questions. Your name…Noel Collins?"

Noel nodded slightly.

"Is your father Maxwell Collins?"

Noel's eyes jerked opened violently, and from within he found the strength to speak louder then a whisper.

"NO! NEVER! He will NEVER be my FATHER!" Noel hissed, and began to cough.

"Batman you're upsetting the patient! Stop it!" came another voice.

"Just one more. That was one hell of a battle you fought. Your wounds show it."

Noel was silent.

"Indeed, you fought extremely hard…putting forth efforts that were definitely superhuman…all for a group of people you've known a total of three days. Why?"

"What?"

"Why fight so hard for something so uncertain?"

Noel blinked. He felt himself drifting off again.

"Belong…"

Batman's pupil-less eyes widened slightly.

"Leave him alone Batman, that's enough. Let him sleep."

"Just want to belong…belong…just belong…" Noel whispered as the darkness claimed him once more, but this darkness spoke of peace and rest rather then oblivion.

And the man known as the Dark Knight left the room. He knew enough now.

Robin had made a good choice.

* * *

Some time later the light came back, and with it voices.

"He's waking up!"

"Noel, Noel!" came a voice Noel recognized as Starfire's. He blinked as his eyes adjusted.

His bed had been modified so that he was sitting up, and all the Titans were in the room with him.

"Noel! You're ok! I would hug you except that Robin recommended I not." Starfire said.

"Good to see you're too stubborn and stupid to die when your body demanded it." Raven said, though she smiled slightly.

"Where am I?"

"You're on the Watchtower, the headquarters for the JLA. They have the best medical technology that we could access quickly and without question. You've been out about five days." Robin said, and Noel realized he wasn't wearing his mask. It was odd to see Robin with eyes that actually had pupils, as his mask had some kind of screen that hid them.

"My injuries…?"

"You should make a full recovery, thanks to Raven. She kept you alive and got you up here. You should be all fixed up with a week or two."

"That's good….the Troika?"

"They got away. But don't worry Noel, they'll pay for what they did. Trust me." Robin said.

"Huh…sorry guys…I wrecked the tower and smashed up your personal property…"

"Forget that Noel! They were just things! You are far more important!" Starfire said.

"You mean that…?"

"Yes. You proved yourself beyond all doubt now Noel. The Teen Titans are just a name, a title, but you have the heart of a true hero. You've earned our respect…and our trust." Robin said. "You were upset you revealed your real name to us. Time for the reverse. My name is Timothy Drake." Robin said.

"Victor Stone." Said Cyborg.

"You know my name: Gar Logan!" Beast Boy said, grinning.

"On my home planet of Tamaran I was called Princess Koriand'r, but Tim calls me Kory Anders on earth. That is my name." Starfire said, grinning.

"Raven's the only name I ever had." Raven said.

"Heh. Noel Alexander Collins." Savior said. He was starting to drift again.

"He needs his rest guys. We'll keep you posted if anything happens." Said a man in a green outfit Noel hadn't seen before. _Green Lantern…?_

"Ok. We'll see you Noel. Don't worry about the tower, we'll have it all fixed up by the time you get back. Bye." Robin said as he put his mask back on and left.

"Bye…" Noel said as the Titans left. The peaceful darkness was coming back, before it did, Noel pondered what he had said.

It had been prophetic.

"We are still here…we are still here…"

And then all was dark.

* * *

Next: _KILLJOY!_


	7. Killjoy: Harbinger

Chapter 7: Harbinger

"I don't know WHY you even bother Gar, you never win! I always win! And you will never…you won?" Cyborg said in confusion as Gar suddenly zipped past him at the last second and crossed the finish line ahead of him.

"Yes! Who the man! Who the man!"

"Rematch! Never happen again!"

And so Cyborg and Beast Boy played their video games. 

Outside on the T-Tower, there was a box. This box had a lock code that would be nearly impossible to guess.

Or if you had the combination.

A dark figure approached the box, all detail lost in the shadows and the long coat the figure wore. He reached the box, and after some effort, opened it. Reaching in, he selected a few certain wires and cut them. He then trimmed another wire away and attached one of the cut wires to it.

Satisfied, the man closed the door and walked towards the T-Tower.

In the T-Tower, the security systems shut off. Had it been a simple cut, a backup alarm would have sounded to alert the team.

If the figure hadn't tied up the wires in a certain way. It would delay the backup a bit.

All he needed.

"You are NOT going to win!" Cyborg yelled, gripping the controller so hard it threatened to break. He had left Beast Boy in the dust at the beginning, but a series of well-done turns and good items were causing Beast Boy to catch up. Now he was breathing down Cyborg's neck. "Over my dead body!"

The elevator was working, but the figure took the stairs, calmly walking up past the security camera which showed nothing but static on their screens.

He reached in his coat and pulled out a shotgun.

"Now I put you in-NO!" Cyborg screamed. He had been about to drop a bomb, which would have surely hit Beast Boy at the distance he was following.

But Beast Boy had beaten him to the punch, activating a scrambler at just the right time. With his controls screwed up, Cyborg had somehow blown himself up with his own bomb, and Beast Boy zoomed past and over the finish line again.

"YES! YES! YES!" Beast Boy yelled, and he got up and started doing a dance.

"This can't be happening…" Cyborg groaned.

"S-U-C-C-E-S-S! That's the way you spell…!"

BLAM!

Cyborg's head jerked up from his hands as Beast Boy stopped dancing. Slowly, he looked down at the huge hole that had suddenly appeared in his chest.

He looked back at Cyborg in confusion.

"Vic?"

And then he fell over, lifeless.

"Gar? GAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cyborg screamed in horror, looking at his now dead comrade and then past him at the man in the black coat holding the smoking shotgun that had snuck into the room and shot Beast Boy in the back while he was dancing.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cyborg roared as he leapt off the couch and charged at the figure.

BLAM! The figure fired the shotgun again. But Cyborg's body was a lot tougher then Beast Boy's, and despite a few pellets hitting his face he continued his charge, planning to rip this murderer's head off with his bare hands for shooting his best friend in the back in cold blood.

The man didn't even seem to care that an extremely powerful and angry cyborg was charging at him, as he cocked the shotgun and fired again, with the same result. He just cocked and fired again. No effect, and now Cyborg was on him, reaching out for his throat…

And then the man spun away, gracefully dodging Cyborg's mad charge, spinning around as he pulled something out of his sleeve. Cyborg was just realizing he had missed the guy when he felt him slap something on the back of his neck.

The man took a jumping step away as Cyborg whirled…

And then Cyborg screamed at the top of his lungs as the man pressed a button on his arm and detonated the EMP grenade. EMP's, electromagnetic pulses, were usually generated by nuclear explosions, and they destroyed anything with electrical systems. Cyborg had shields for those kinds of things…

Except it had happened so quickly that he had neglected to turn them on…

The side of Cyborg's head exploded even as the TV and gamestation blew up followed by every single electronic device in the room. Cyborg fell, spasming and smoking, as his organs were cooked and his brain fried as his systems short-circuited and exploded.

"What's going on in here? Guys? GUYS!  
Robin ran into the room, Starfire on his heels. The first thing he saw was the back of a man. The man was bald with the exception of a long black tightly-tied ponytail, almost like one a monk might wear, from his head. All Robin could see besides that was a long black Matrix-like jacket hiding the rest of his body.

The second thing he saw was Cyborg and Beast Boy's bodies.

"No." Robin said in horror.

The man turned, revealing a face that was totally unremarkable…except for the eyes…and the shotgun…

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Robin screamed in shock and rage. The man was bringing the shotgun up, even as Robin heard Starfire shriek in horror behind him…

A Birdarang knocked the shotgun from his hands, even as Robin whipped out his staff and extended it. He leapt at the man, swinging the staff, wanting to hurt someone more then he ever had in his life…

The staff hit the side of the man's head. Robin felt the impact run all the way up his arms.

The man grunted as he stumbled a bit, and Robin swung again…

And a gun slid out from under the man's sleeve and into his hand, a gun he jammed into Robin's chest.

BLAM!

Blood splattered on Starfire's shocked face.

"Robin?"

The pain was quickly replaced by a numbing darkness, and as it claimed him Robin realized he had played right into the man's hands, that the man had used his anger and took his attack so that Robin would be close enough for the man to shoot him.

_But I have body armour…_was Robin's last confused thought.

Too bad for him the man had Teflon-coating bullets specifically designed to go through body armour.

"No. NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Starfire screamed as Robin fell, as she raised her hands as green energy…

Her left kneecap exploded as the man shot her in the leg. The pain was so great that her brain temporarily over-loaded, as she gasped rather then screamed.

Then her other kneecap was blown apart as the man shot it as well. Starfire crumbled, tears dripping from her eyes as the pain started to come.

"Why…" she cried as the man walked up to her.

BLAM! Starfire's question was left unanswered as the man shot her in the head. He fired two more times.

Calmly, the man walked over to Robin and shot him in the head. Just to be sure. He heard the shadows shifting and stepped back.

Raven appeared from the ceiling, coming from the blackness. Her peaceful meditation had suddenly been interrupted by a storm of pain and other emotions. She had thought that maybe someone had gotten into a fight…

"No…" Raven said, her shock echoing those who had gone before her.

Her teammates…all dead. Gone. She could sense no life in them. All four gone, brutally snuffed out in less then a minute.

She heard, rather then sensed, the man behind her. But as she turned, she did not know how. She could sense emotions if she chose, and that "sense" had been turned on to see what was going on. Surely she would have sensed a man behind her.

There was a man behind her.

And in her final shock, she realized why she couldn't sense anything from the man.

THERE WAS NOTHING THERE.

The man had walked behind her and had raised a gun as she turned around. Raven could see right down the barrel in a detail she never knew her eyes possessed. But the darkness in the man's gun barrel was nothing compared to the darkness in his eyes…and in his heart…

She frantically tried to cast a spell.

"AZARATH METRION…!"

BLAM!

"AHHHHH!" Raven gasped as she sat up in bed. Her room shook as one last pulse of fear flowed through her, and then it and her heart settled.

"Oh god…a dream…no…wasn't a dream…no…oh god…" Raven said as she drew her knees up and shook for a few moments. She was not used to being scared, nor did she like it. She had stared down angry metahumans, vicious demons, and all sorts of other nastiness that made the average human flee in terror without fear.

But that man…

"Blank." She whispered to herself. "Nothing…nothing at all…beyond ice…complete oblivion…"

Sweat soaked her, and she suddenly became aware that she was too cold. She got out of bed and floated her cloak over to her. She looked rather silly with it and her nightgown on, but she needed it. It helped her think.

That wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't even a night terror, a waking semi-hallucination where you saw things you were SURE were real (indeed, one of the proposed reasons that people saw witches that they tried to burn in the infamous Salem Witch Trials was a series of night terrors that the primitive and superstitious Puritans saw as reality. Oh, that and a bunch of men seeing a great opportunity to take some women who were tasting a bit of independence and get rid of them so that all the others would stay firmly under their thumb, if you care). It had been…

"Prophecy." Raven said to herself.

Her powers were still a mystery to her, but her link to her abilities sometimes manifested in strange ways. And she was sure she had just been given a warning.

Her teammates.

She had to see if they were all right.

Sinking into the shadows, Raven went to her teammates' rooms.

Beast Boy was snoring loudly and appeared to be sleeping with a sock. Cyborg was hooked up to some devices that beeped at Raven. Starfire was in a rather uncomfortable-looking position. And Robin woke up when she leaned over him to check, startling her and then him,

"Ah!"

"AH! Raven, is that you? What are you doing in my room?" Robin asked.

"Sorry Tim. I…I had a nightmare." Raven said, and immediately regretted her choice of words.

"A nightmare?" Tim said incredulously.

"No! Yes! It was…but it was more, Tim! It was a…well, a glimpse of something."

"What?"

"We died, Tim. We all died. I saw our fates. And it's going to happen, and soon…I feel it…"

"…………I see…I don't suppose you got tomorrow's lottery numbers while you were at it did you?"

"THIS IS SERIOUS ROBIN!" Raven yelled, as Robin's room shook. "Something is out there, and it's bad. And it wants to kill us."

"Ok, ok, I believe you Raven. But what? Who?"

"There was no name spoken…but something…is on the tip…can't quite…get it…"

"I wish whoever sends these messages wouldn't leave out such crucial details when they're warning of someone trying to kill us…" Robin said.

"Kill…KILLJOY! That's it! That's the name!" Raven said. Robin's eyes arched.

"Did you say Killjoy?"

"Yes! Do you know him?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"Because as far as I, and a lot of other people know, Raven, Killjoy is an urban legend."

The room he was in was completely black, except for the glow of the monitor screen. The man watched the words as they finished appeared.

…WELL-COMPENSATED IN ANY WAY YOU CHOOSE. WILL YOU ACCEPT THE ASSIGNMENT?

The man thought it over for a second, and then typed in his answer.

YES.

EXCELLENT. I WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A PHOTO AND ALL THE DETAILS YOU NEED. SPEED WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

The man got up from his chair and crossed the room. He turned on a small light as a fax machine began to whir.

A picture of the Titans slid out. Savior was not included: he was still healing, and Slade didn't care much. Once the original team was gone, a newly joined link would be unimportant. The core was what mattered.

The man picked up the photo and looked at it for a few seconds. He then put it down and walked over to the computer again.

IT WILL BE DONE BY TOMORROW.

EXCELLENT. MANY THANKS.

And then the message deliverer turned off. The man closed it himself and went back to the fax machine that was now spewing out printed sheets.

Killjoy picked up the sheets and read them twice each, and then put them in the garbage. Once all the details were memorized, he threw a match in as well and burned the information to ash. 

Realizing he had missed the picture, he picked it up and looked at it again, and then tossed it into the air, turned on his heel, and began to walk away.

The picture fluttered up about four feet and then began to flutter down.

And Killjoy whirled as he drew a gun.

BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMLBLAM!

The five shots came so close together it sounded more like two. Killjoy spun the gun, his right thumb making a weird clicking sound, and replaced it in his holster as he turned again and headed for his weapons closet, planning his strategy already.

The photo floated to the floor, five neat holes in it, all of them in the place where the Titans' heads had been.

The mark was on.

The reality would soon follow.


	8. Killjoy: The Boogeyman

Chapter 8: The Boogeyman

"Ok, let me see if  have this straight…" Cyborg said. "You had a dream about a normal man who just walked into the tower, killed us all in less then a minute, without us being able to put hardly a scratch on him?"

"Yes." Raven said, irritated. She hadn't wanted to tell her teammates. She had expected this. But she had done it anyway. For a moment, she wished Noel were here, and then wondered why she wished that.

"Did this man have super speed? Was he resistant to damage?" Beast Boy was asking.

"No…he just…knew what he was doing…Robin's staff…it hurt him…but he just seemed to…HANDLE the pain…better then…someone normally would…"

"And this man killed us all in less then a minute, and this is actually something that is going to happen?" Cyborg said.

"Yes."

Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at each other, and then they started to laugh their heads off. Raven sighed in exasperation.

"Look guys…"

"Raven, if you are suffering from bad nightmares, my Tamaran Tyhot Sooth Salve could…" Starfire offered.

"IT WAS NOT A NIGHTMARE! FINE! If you idiots want to die, FINE! SEE IF I CARE!" Raven snapped, and she got up in a huff and started to leave.

"Look Raven…guys, shut up. Don't forget the talents Raven possesses. She might have something here…" Robin said.

"But Robin, sheesh, one guy? How could…I mean…I mean, his whole opening was that he shot Gar in the back, and then he used our shock against us. But if we know he's coming…" Cyborg said.

"It does sound rather unlikely, Robin." Starfire said.

"Well, what did you say about him Raven?"

"I can sense emotions guys. But this man…there was NOTHING. No anger, no joy, no fear, NOTHING. There wasn't even any determination or concentration. It was just…a blank! A complete blank slate! Nothing at all! You have no idea what it's like to look into a human mind, an organ so controlled by those things, and find NOTHING."

"Like a sociopath?"

"No, a sociopath just lacks a conscience. He or she can still do things and feel stuff about them. But this…Killjoy…nothing. Nothing at all. When I say blank, I mean BLANK." Raven said.

"Is that possible Robin?" Starfire asked.

"Well I…the human mind is immensely complex Starfire. One of the downsides of that is that it can screw up in so many ways. But a man without any type of emotion? Geez, what are the odds of a brain deformity like that that also allows a human to function at such a peak level…" Robin asked. "Tell you what, I'll ask Batman. If this Killjoy exists, he surely knows. But as far as I know, he's just a modern fairy tale, something told to scare people."

"Maybe you saw something on a TV show Raven?" Beast Boy asked.

"For the last time, IT WAS NOT A DREAM. That's it, I've had it." Raven said, and vanished in the shadows around her feet.

"Guys you shouldn't make fun. If she actually thinks this is more then a dream, we should give her the benefit of the doubt." Robin said.

"Well, normally I would Tim, if this was a metahuman or something, but…a normal man? I mean, really…what could…oh yeah." Cyborg said as Robin glared at him.

"I'm giving an order guys. Stay on alert, and if you want to leave the tower, try to stay in a group. Just in case."

"Ohhhhh, ohhhh! Should we not get naked too? Oh god, Robin, hope you weren't planning anything with Star because hanky panky will get you killed…too…" Beast Boy trailed off as Robin glared fiercely at him.

"If you want me I'll be on the computer. Victor, put the security systems on too. And BE CAREFUL." Robin said, and left.

"Man, he's getting as good as his mentor at those looks." Beast Boy said, having turned into a mouse.

"I think I will perform the Gynmai Pfekuy Ritual of Hightening…just to be sure…" Starfire said, and left.

"Man, Raven's got everyone on edge with that damn dream of hers. Maybe we should go get some stuff now, Gar, before she gets in Robin's ear some more and we aren't allowed to leave the tower at all." Cyborg said.

"Agreed." Beast Boy said.

Some time later, Starfire had finished the ritual, but she didn't feel any better. She'd tried talking to Raven, but Raven had still been angry at her disbelief and had asked her to leave. Then she had thought about going up to the JLA Tower to see Noel, but the only way to get up there quickly was Raven's teleportation, and that was out of the question. Feeling nervous and apprehensive, she decided to go speak to Robin. Maybe he would know what to say (and maybe she could kiss him again…?)

Robin was back at his e-mails in his room. He'd sent a message to Batman and was waiting for a reply, and getting rid of all the junk was as good a time-waster as any.

"Ok, what's next…"Dear Robyn…what are some cool ways to spell different words? For example, fat=phat. Signed, Matt." Oh, you mean like Robin=Robyn? You seem to like that one. How about this one: Matt=DELETED!" Robin yelled. "Ok now what…"Hi Robin! I be she your girlfriend!"……..oh boy, you know, I'm actually going to answer this one! 'Hi girlie, I be he your boyfriend!'" Robin said as he typed that. He was about to follow up with a blistering line about grammar when the phone rang. "Damn, guess this will have to wait…"

Robin got up and headed out of the room towards the phone.

A few seconds later, Starfire walked in.

"Robin? Are you in here? Have you…" Starfire said as she walked over and saw Robin's computer. "Oh, this TV has words on it!" she said, and sat down, looking at the screen. "Hi Robin, I be she your girlfriend! WHAT? Hi girlie, I be he your boyfriend WHAT? Oh no you don't!" Starfire said, and began to type. "Actually, blow it out your ear, SKANK! Your friend, Robin." Starfire said, smiling contently. She sent the reply and the computer automatically called up the next one.

"Oh, another one! "Dear Robin, is Batman screwing you? I know he is!" Oh even I know what to do with this one! BALEETED! Huh, it didn't go away? Is that not it? Well then, uh… DELTEATED! Uh no…Del Taco?"

"Look I really don't care about adding to my subscription to the Daily Star…" Robin was saying on the phone, trying to politely get rid of the woman on the other end. Meanwhile, Starfire typed word after word into Robin's computer as she tried to remember the exact word.

"Meathead? No…deedleated? Freaky D'td? Diddly dee? Dltd? Duh lee ted? Repeated? D333l3d? 3-D movie? Del monte? Dddddddd? Diggity? Beefeated? 3Dtled? Belititet? Seabed? Receded? What is that STUPID WORD…" Starfire said, and accidentally typed in "stupid word" and entered it.

BUZZ! Went the computer, and the e-mail program went away to be replaced with a blue screen with words on it.

FLAGRANT SYSTEM ERROR. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID, MORON, BUT YOU SURE SCREWED EVERYTHING UP.

"Uh oh. This does not look good for me." Starfire said, sweatdropping.

"Look, I have to go! Yes thank you!" Robin was saying. Starfire's eyes went wide, and she looked around frantically before spying a piece of paper and a pen.

"Ok ok, finally done. Now back to the e-mails." Robin said as he walked back into his room. Starfire was gone.

"Ok…hey, what's this. "Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined." Oh well that's good to…HEY WAIT A MINUTE!" Robin said when he realized the message was written on a piece of paper taped to his computer monitor. He tore it off to reveal the blue screen.

"Flagrant system error? What happened to my e-mails! What the heck…!" Robin yelled.

Whistling, Starfire walked away. Maybe she would wait a while to talk to Robin.

Fortunately, Batman didn't contact Robin on his personal computer. He contacted him on the Titan's main computer. Cyborg and Beast Boy were off somewhere (Robin didn't like that, but what could he do, chain them in their rooms?), Raven was mediating and Starfire was…somewhere, he wasn't sure. In any case, he felt free to talk to his mentor. Who looked stern and cross as per usual.

"I have some data about Noel for you."

"What? How?"

"Just checking. Noel claims to be from New York, right?"

"Yes."

"I had to do some digging, but I found something. There was an accident that happened in a part of the city. A truck driver for the Pretty Place Paint Corp crashed his truck at an intersection. He was drunk, the crash was pretty bad, made a giant mess. What the public doesn't know is that another truck crashed into THAT truck. Which would make sense, since officially, that truck didn't exist."

"What?"

"It contained an experimental nerve toxin called SXZ-12. The data I was able to gather from it is that it was designed as both a lethal weapon and a demoralizer. The toxin caused uncontrollable mutations in whoever was exposed to it, causing madness among many other unpleasant things. The government wanted to test some, but they didn't want to fly it by plane. If terrorists somehow got on that plane, it would be horrendous. So they decided to put it in a truck and drive it to the lab."

"Through New York."

"Which couldn't be told. After 9/11, who could blame them? But that truck crashed into the paint truck. Fortunately, the toxin evaporates quickly, otherwise it would have been such a disaster we would have heard of it. The government had backup safeguards in place, and they quickly swooped in and got ahold of all the ones affected by the toxin Fortunately they had an antidote, or I would be putting them on my list." Batman said grimly. "They assumingly paid them off to shut them up as well. But I think they may have missed a couple people."

"Noel."

"Noel claimed to be getting off a subway when the paint truck crashed. If he were telling the truth, he would have been right in the splatter pattern of how the truck's tank ruptured. He would have been completely coated in the paint. Then the toxin got sprayed on him…"

"And something in the paint caused a beneficial mutation instead of a harmful one. What are the odds of that?"

"According to my calculations, 6,086,426 to 1."

"Always were a bit too detailed there Bruce."

"Don't use my name." Batman said crossly.

"Oh come on…Batman. My friends can be trusted, and even if they couldn't, none of them are here!"

"Look again."

Robin turned around to see Raven standing there.

"Er…did you hear anything?"

"Something about how we can be trusted." Raven said. Robin turned back to Batman and grinned sheepishly. He continued to glare.

"Ask him."

"Oh yes Batman. I…"

"You sent me a message enquiring that your ally Raven there may have had a precognitive dream in which a hitman known as Killjoy caused your deaths. You have heard of this Killjoy, but you assumed him to be an urban myth. You wanted to know if I knew differently." Batman said.

"Yes."

"Robin, as far as I can tell, you were correct. Killjoy is, as far as my records, and Oracle's show, just an urban legend."

"Are you SURE? What about the Senator Azzarello incident…?"

"That happened, yes, but…"

"What Senator Azzarello incident?" Raven asked.

"Several years ago a prominent senator was murdered. It was his daughter's birthday, and the killer seemingly just walked in and shot everyone with a heavy machine gun. Whoever this was then shot everyone in the head to make sure they were dead. There wee no survivors. The attack was attributed to the figure known as Killjoy."

"So then…"

"Reports and facts often differ greatly, Raven. There was no Killjoy. Three drug-addled gangsters who needed the money for their addictions did the attack. Bullets found at the scene had their fingerprints on them, and the three had no alibi. One of them was named Hellroy. But some details leaked, they got garbled, and out of that came "Killjoy". And from there every unsolved homicide for several years has been blamed on this mystical assassin Killjoy. But we have never found any hard evidence of his existence. Even myself."

"Raven says the man she saw in the dream felt no emotions at all. Nothing."

"Perhaps the dream meant you will be attacked by a robot then. Dreams are confusing things."

"No matter who you are, don't you dare patronize me!" Raven snapped, and then she was gone back into the shadows.

"Charming girl. That's what I say, Tim. There is no Killjoy. But you may still be in danger. Be alert."

"Thank you Br…Batman."

"Oh yes. One more thing. Tim, your new friend Noel…I believe he is the son of Maxwell Collins."

Robin's eyes arched.

"THE Maxwell Collins?"

"Yes. That may be important later Tim. Just so you know." Batman said, and then the screen turned off.

Evening was coming on when the Titans met in the lounge.

"So it was all just a dream." Cyborg said. Raven didn't look up from her book.

"Could still mean something. Stay alert guys." Robin said.

"What movie did you get Gar?" Starfire asked.

"A true horror film, as in one that is good scary, rather then bad scary, Halloween!" Beast Boy said. "And since a thunderstorm is brewing, it's the perfect atmosphere!"

"I'll pass." Raven said.

"This won't be like the dog eating one, will it Robin?" Starfire asked.

"No no Star, but if you get scared I'll be right here…"

"Man, this is a weird storm. Where's the rain?" Cyborg said as he looked out the window. "Just some lightning and a little thunder."

"Who can tell…" Beast Boy said, engrossed in the tale of Micheal Myers.

A "jump" moment happened, though the only one who jumped was Starfire, right back into Robin's arms.

"Why won't he die? Can't he feel pain?" Starfire asked. Robin just kept an arm around her shoulder and didn't answer.

The film ended shortly, and no sooner was the final line "It WAS the boogeyman" uttered then Cyborg turned the VCR off.

"Nothing else! Scoot over Robin, it's time for me to kick Gar's butt again." Cyborg said.

"…the head of CollinsCorp was…" the TV said before Cyborg turned the gamestation on.

"You know, maybe it won't matter if someone comes to kill us or not. Those games have killed both of your brains already." Raven said curtly as she go up.

"Ok, THAT'S IT." Cyborg said as he muted the TV. "I've had enough of your insults just because we don't believe in your little dream."

"Victor, if it was just a dream, I would have kept my mouth shut. But it WAS NOT. I tried, as your teammate, and as I believed, your friend, to warn you of danger, and all I have received is mockery. This angers me, and I will not sit here and not let you know it!"

"You heard Robin's boss, Raven! There is no evidence of Killjoy!" Beast Boy said.

"Just because there is no proof doesn't mean there isn't something there." Raven replied.

"Ok, enough! I've had it! I don't care what that poetry-spewing, the world is pointless, let's cut our wrists goth stuff has done to your brain, but I know one thing: this guy had gone from being a man to something that hides in the closet of a child. Time for you to realize, Raven, THE BOOGEYMAN DOESN'T EXIST."

And with that came a giant flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by a booming crack of thunder.

And then the lights went out. Darkness closed over the Titans' lounge.

For a moment there was silence, and then Raven spoke from the shadows.

"He's HEEEEEERRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE."


	9. Killjoy: Deviance

Chapter 9: Deviance

"Robin!" Starfire said fearfully.

"Relax Star, the backup lights should be kicking in soon…" Robin said, and then the dark room was faintly lit by a reddish glow.

"What happened?" Beast Boy asked.

"Lightning must have hit a line or something…no one's here Raven, it's just…" Cyborg was saying.

"Guys." Robin said. Everyone turned to him.

"You know our security system, the one specially prepared to keep working in the event of a power outage? It's down."

"What? Impossible? We've got special ground wires, the only switches are in here and outside protected by…"

"A lock box. Which appears to have been compromised." Robin said.

"Guys…" Beast Boy said, as he flew up to Robin in a bat form.

"What?"

"Raven's gone."

Dreams are rarely wholly accurate. In this case, not only had Killjoy taken care of the security system, he decided to turn off the power as well. He expected them to blame it on the still strangely-rainless storm, and wouldn't pay any attention to it.

Until it was too late.

Killjoy turned and headed for the door of the darkened tower, grabbing his right thumb and adjusting it with a strange cracking sound.

"No."

Killjoy stopped at the voice, and then turned around.

Raven stood there, her hands clenched.

"I won't let you anywhere near my friends. Leave this place now or suffer my wrath." Raven said, trying to hide her fear.

It was happening. Killjoy was real. He was standing there. Everything fit. Same face, dark and menacing, heavy bones giving him a true predator's visage. The hair, one long braided ponytail from the back of his otherwise bald head. His jacket, hiding his chest and legs, dark hands sticking from the sleeves. And his eyes.

They were like a shark's, totally and utterly blank, betraying nothing. The blankness echoed in Killjoy's heart and mind, nothing in him as he looked at Raven. He felt no fear, no anticipation, no interest, nothing. It was if he were a druggie staring into space, except no druggie ever had the aura of alertness Killjoy had.

He said nothing. He didn't move. He just looked at Raven, noting her presence and nothing else.

Raven swallowed. She shouldn't be scared. It was just a man. She was half-demon, a powerful sorceress. She could match any mortal man's tools and surpass them…

But yet…Raven knew of emotions. She knew how she had to keep her carefully in check, lest disaster happen. But this wasn't a case of repression with Killjoy. It was a case of…nothing. Nothing there. Now or ever.

Humans motivated by anger or hate or fear or greed were understandable.

But this man was going into the tower, her HOME, to kill her and her friends, just because…

Killjoy snapped his arm up.

"Azarathmetrionzinthos!" Raven yelled, waving her arm. Killjoy's arm was twisted to the side as she yanked the gun he had drawn sideways, spinning it away from him and pulling it from his hands….

As Killjoy spun with her even as he drew another gun with his other hand and completed his 360, aiming at her, locking her in his sights…

FLA/CRASH! A giant bolt of lightning followed almost immediately by a tremendous blast of thunder saved Raven, as it and her swirling cloak messed up his aim. The bullet blew a hole in the top of Raven's cloak, knocking off her hood as she reeled back in surprise. Killjoy squeezed the trigger a second time…

And then a Birdarang disarmed him, the second shot going into the ground.

"Looks like…" Robin started to say.

Then everything went wrong. Robin had run out of the tower and found Killjoy just as he was about to shoot Raven. His Birdarang disarmed the man, and Robin expected to be able to tell the hitman exactly what he and his fellow Titans were going to do to him while he regrouped.

But Killjoy didn't. The Birdarang had knocked the gun out of his hand and made him stumble a bit. But no sooner did Robin start to speak when Killjoy turned the stumble into a twirl as twin guns snapped from beneath his sleeves which he brought up at the Titans.

"MOVE!" Robin yelled, as Killjoy opened fire. Cyborg stepped in front of the group to take the first few shots and gasped when the bullets bit through his armour. They didn't get all the way through to hit vitals organs or parts, but the fact they got through his special defenses was…

Beast Boy had turned into a mouse to avoid the shots, while Robin tried to get another Birdarang out. _Damn, he's not just firing, HE'S AIMING! If we don't get those guns he'll go for a head shot on Victor next…_

"HAH!" Starfire yelled as she fired a Starbolt at Killjoy. The ground exploded at Killjoy's feet, Starfire's aim a bit off due to having to dodge the bullets, but it worked well anyway as Killjoy stumbled. Yelling, Cyborg charged into him, knocking the guns out of his hands.

"Take this you-WAH!" Cyborg yelled as Killjoy threw himself down and used Cyborg's own momentum to hurl him over him. He quickly flipped back to his feet and reached for another gun…

And then Raven swung the lamppost she had ripped out of the ground like a bat, smashing Killjoy through the air. She hit him so hard he flew upward thirty feet before he smashed through one of the T-Tower's windows.

Starfire flew up.

"Be careful Starfire! Let me check!" Beast Boy said as he flew up as a hummingbird, hoping he was a small enough target. He floated in front of the broken window and looked around. "Clear!"

Starfire floated up, hands glowing green, her eyes darting around the room as she flew in. Beast Boy flew in, watching her back, as she looked around the dimly lit room Raven had smashed Killjoy into.

"Hey!" Beast Boy said, as Raven floated up carrying Robin and Cyborg on floating debris. "Look!" he said, indicating a broken window on the opposite side of the original.

"No glass on the floor. He must have gone all the way through!" Robin said, as he indicated for the others to sneak over to the window in case Killjoy was planning to shoot at them from outside it.

Beast Boy flew out again as a hummingbird, looking at the ground.

No Killjoy. Beast Boy looked around. There wasn't much in the way of cover around the T-Tower, and he couldn't see anything.

"Nothing! He's not out here!" Beast Boy said.

"He went through though." Robin said, pointing to a shard of glass still in the window frame on which fresh blood was present.

"Man, I can't see him anywhere! Geez, nice shot Raven." Cyborg said, looking around with his enhanced eyes.

"It was my pleasure." Raven said coldly.

"Man! Maybe he set some sort of distance record!" Beast Boy said as he zipped around.

"We have to find him…" Robin said. He was torn what to do. If they stayed together, they might have the advantage, but Killjoy might also be able to get them all in one fell swoop. If they split up, he might pick them off one by one, but they might also find him quicker…

Robin compromised.

"Victor, get down to that box and fix our lights and system. Quickly." Robin said. "As soon as you do, come back here."

"Got you." Cyborg said as he leapt out the window.

"Starfire, Beast Boy, you two search the grounds. Beast Boy, keep that form and look on land. Starfire, fly high and check the water. And please, be careful. That bastard can aim." Robin said.

"Will do boss."

"I will do my best, Robin!" Starfire said as she flew out. Watching her go was one of the hardest things Robin ever saw.

"Raven, you and I will head up to the main systems and use them to scan for Killjoy. If Star or Gar doesn't find him first."

"Or if he finds them." Raven added. Robin gave her a dirty look.

A loud clank nearly made Robin jump out of his skin, but it was just Cyborg shooting a grappling hook to pull himself back up through the broken window.

"Fixed."

"That was quick."

"I still need to reactivate the systems properly. Let's head to the main computer room."

The three-minute trip had Robin jumping at every crack of thunder, his ears pricked for possible gunshots erupting at any time. He relaxed a bit when he and the other two had made it back without incident. A light rain had finally started to fall outside, a strange counterpoint to the vicious lightning and thunder.

"Will this take long?" Robin asked. He could see Starfire in the distance, scanning the choppy water.

"Shouldn't." Cyborg said as he leaned over and started typing.

"You were right Raven. I'm sorry we doubted you. I saw his eyes. There WAS nothing." Robin said.

"It's ok. Let's just deal with this problem."

"I'd apologize except I don't really have the time Raven…" Cyborg said as he typed.

The lightning flickered and then went out.

"Victor…!"

"Relax, that's supposed to happen. I've got the security systems back on, now just a few more clicks for the lights…!"

The lights clicked back on.

Revealing Killjoy standing behind Cyborg.

"VIC LOOK OUT!" Robin yelled. Victor twisted away from the computer as Killjoy aimed a gun at Cyborg's face.

BLAM! Cyborg's hand grabbed Killjoy's arm just before the gun fired, the bullet splintering the computer glass.

Raven's eyes suddenly focused on Killjoy's other arm, his ability to turn a failed attack into another offense immediately fresh in her mind…

And she was right, as she saw Killjoy's other hand swing up with something in it.

The EMP pulse generator grenade.

Cyborg felt something being pressed on his neck…

And then being torn away as black energy encased the lethal machine-killing device and threw it away.

"Amazing what you can do when you get your news in advance, eh?" Cyborg said, and swung at Killjoy.

Killjoy ducked, grabbed Victor's body, and hurled him headfirst into another monitor. He stepped back and aimed with his gun…

Robin knocked it out of his hand with his staff and then spun and rammed the pole into Killjoy's gut. Killjoy grunted a bit and stumbled back, and then Raven broke a chair over his back via telekinesis. Robin punched the assassin in the face, and then Killjoy countered with a backhand. Robin spun and smashed his leg across Killjoy's face with a heel roundhouse, and then twirled up with his staff and rammed Killjoy across the face.

"Save some for me!" Cyborg yelled as he barreled in, ramming both his fists into Killjoy's gut. Killjoy doubled over, and then he came back up with a shotgun.

Cyborg grabbed it and twisted it apart, ruining the gun.

"Hard to find good equipment these days, isn't it?" Cyborg said as he pulled the gun away from Killjoy. He faintly heard a weird snapping noise as he followed it up with a punch that leveled the hitman and sent him flying across the room before he hit the ground.

"What the…" Cyborg said as he looked at the shotgun. Something was hanging from it. Killjoy's right thumb. Cyborg winced as he removed it and looked at it. _Some kind of prosthetic…ewwwwwww._ Cyborg thought as he threw the artificial digit away.

Killjoy was getting back up.

"Care for a Sonic Boom?" Robin asked Cyborg. Cyborg grinned and began prepping his sonic cannon.

"I got the sonic if you got the…"

And then Killjoy twisted, as he pulled something from within the folds of his jacket. He must have been hiding it on his back somehow, the coat keeping it hidden.

A grenade launcher.

"LOOK OUT!" Robin yelled.

Too late, as Killjoy fired a grenade into Cyborg's chest. The explosion was small but intense, rocking Cyborg back.

Killjoy fired again, and again, the rotating barrel on his grenade launcher allowing him to fire the explosives quickly. Cyborg was blown backwards by the repeated explosions.

Robin tried to Birdarang the grenade launcher out of Killjoy's hands, but the hitman amazingly spun away from the bladed projectile and fired his last two grenades into Cyborg, the last one blowing him out the window.

"CYBORG!" Robin yelled.

"I'll help him!" Raven said as she disappeared into the shadows again.

Killjoy dropped his empty grenade launcher and looked at Robin. Robin glared back.

"If you have anything human in that abyss you call a soul, why don't we settle this like men?" Robin said, twirling his staff.

Killjoy didn't answer, instead reaching into his jacket and pulling out…a combat knife.

Robin's eyes narrowed, and he leapt.

Raven was too late to prevent Cyborg from hitting the ground, and she found him in a small crater.

"Cyborg?"

"Gonna kill that motherfucker…" Cyborg muttered. The front of his armour was severely dented and burned, but Raven could detect no serious injuries. He was merely stunned by the explosives and the fall. Raven had to give him credit.

"You know what's weird?" Cyborg babbled, still not completely with it. "His right thumb isn't real! I broke it off! He has a fake thumb! How strange…"

"Yes…" Raven said, and then looked up. Her eyes widened.

"OH NO!"

Robin ducked under the knife slash and rammed his fists into Killjoy's gut. He spun away from a follow-up downward thrust but couldn't get away from a roundhouse kick from Killjoy. He landed flat on the ground, and Killjoy flipped over and tried to ram his heel into Robin's sternum and drive his ribs into his heart. But Robin rolled away and smashed Killjoy across the face with his staff.

Killjoy got back up. Blood started dripping from his nose. He looked at it and then resumed slashing at Robin. Robin dodged three and then flipped backwards, smashing his feet into Killjoy's chin. Killjoy stumbled back.

"Come on, you sick freak!" Robin said, dancing like Muhammad Ali.

And then what Raven had seen came into play, as Starfire flew in close to one of the windows to see what was going on.

Unfortunately Killjoy saw her before she saw him.

Robin's eyes widened as Killjoy suddenly turned away from him and began charging at the window. He turned and looked.

"Robin what's going on in there…" Starfire was saying, not knowing Robin couldn't hear the through the window. The light rain had already stopped, but it had made the windows wet, distorting her view, and while she could see Robin's bright outfit she couldn't quite make out Killjoy's dark jacket…

Starfire screamed as the window exploded outward as Killjoy leapt out through it at her, grabbing her just before he fell. Starfire freaked and flew upward, trying to dislodge her attacker, but he had a firm grip on her clothing and held out as he slashed at her throat with his knife.

"Starfire!" Robin screamed as he watched the two fly up.

"Ah bloody hell." Raven cursed as she watched the oblivious Starfire fly up to the window and become a great target for Killjoy. She knew Victor would be ok, so she vanished into the shadows.

"Why are you doing this?!? Why do you want to hurt me!?!" Starfire shrieked as she flew up next to one of the "T-Points" of the tower, Killjoy still slashing at her. She couldn't use her Starbolts at this range, and she couldn't get a good enough grip to use her strength…

"AHHHHHHHH!" Starfire shrieked in pain as Killjoy finally managed to get a hit in, slashing open her shoulder. He reared back for a follow-up stab into her neck…

"GO TO HELL!" Beast Boy yelled as he flew in as a bald eagle, using his talons to claw at Killjoy's eyes. Killjoy recoiled, his grip loosening on Starfire, and Beast Boy pressed his attack.

Too hard, as Killjoy twisted and rammed his knife into one of Beast Boy's wings. Beast Boy shrieked in pain and fell, twirling down to Earth as his damaged wing could no longer support him.

"Beast Boy! ENOUGH!" Starfire screamed, and finally got her arm up as she blasted Killjoy with a point-blank Starbolt. Killjoy was blasted away, falling towards the top of the tower…

But he still had enough sense to throw his knife. A few seconds later he slammed into the top of the tower, hard.

Starfire was lucky, somewhat. The blade didn't hit her. Instead, the twirling knife's hilt did, slamming into her forehead and knocking her woozy. Flight suddenly made a lot harder, Starfire lurched downward and then fell towards the tower.

She landed and skidded a little, stopping after a few bumps. She lay there for a few seconds, gathering herself, and then started getting up.

CLICK.

Starfire looked up to see Killjoy up and in front of her, sticking a gun in her face. Point blank range, nowhere to dodge, and no fellow Titans to save her.

Her heart jack hammering and her mouth dry, she looked into Killjoy's emotionless eyes.

"Why…why are you doing this?"

Killjoy looked back at her, cocked the hammer, and spoke for the first time.

"It's something to do."

And he squeezed the trigger.

Raven appeared out of the shadows as Killjoy stuck the gun in Starfire's face. Oh no! Raven's eyes darted around, trying to find something to throw or…

Her eyes fell on Killjoy's hand. His gun hand. Cyborg had been right: he had no thumb. But he was holding the gun away, gripping it firm. He must have trained himself to be able to hold a gun even without the proper amount of digits to use as a grip…

And Raven had an idea.

Killjoy was looking at Starfire when she walked out in front of him, chanting quietly.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

"It's something to do." Killjoy said, and squeezed the trigger.

"Draglor Reversiti!" Raven finished.

BLAM!

For a moment, all was still.

Starfire opened her tightly clenched eyes to look.

Killjoy was standing still, as he looked down at his gun, glowing black.

And facing the wrong way.

And then he finally saw Raven, as he took a step back.

He had pulled the trigger, the gun momentarily balancing totally on that finger as the bullet began to fire. And at the same time, Raven had cast a spell that had caused his gun to spin 180 degrees around. Had Killjoy had a thumb, it would have blocked such a move, but he didn't, and the gun had turned around and shot it's master instead.

Killjoy took another step back, dropping the gun. He put his hand to his chest, his fingers coming away wet with his own blood.

And then he looked at Raven again, as she pulled back her bullet-shot hood to cover her face as her rage at this monster exploded and she focused it all as she floated up, black energy engulfing her.

"You feel no emotions, Killjoy?" Raven snarled. "LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT FEAR TASTES LIKE!"

And she fired out a black telekinetic bolt that slammed into the assassin and carried him away, without a sound, a whimper rather then a bang, far out and away as he flew into the distance and fell into the storm-tossed oceans.

"Starfire! Oh thank god!" Robin said as he ran past Raven and hugged Starfire. She clung to him, weeping, awash in the fear of one who had stared death in the eye.

"Killjoy?" Cyborg said as he walked up next to Raven, supporting a limping Beast Boy.

"It's over. I got him." Raven said.

Prophecy failed.

"I suppose I can be wrong at times." Batman said on Robin's comlink. "Are you all alright?"

"Nothing that Raven can't fix." Robin said, a bit more curtly then he planned to. But he couldn't help it. After Batman had said there was no monster in the closet, it had come out anyway, and hungry. His mentor was only human, and not infallible, but the reality of that didn't change his anger any.

"What about a body?"

"We'll take a look but with that current I doubt we'll find it." Robin said. The undertone was clear to both of them.

"Well then, I'll let you go. And once again Tim, I apologize." Batman said, and then he was gone.

Tim put his communicator away and looked at his team. Raven had already healed the simple flesh wounds Beast Boy and Starfire had suffered. He walked over to where she was standing, looking out onto the ocean.

"You ok?"

"Yes. I feel…good." Raven said.

"Yes well, I believe Vic and Gar have something they want to say to you." Robin said, pointing. Raven turned to look at the sheepish-looking Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"If you do that dance Noel did, I'll hurt you worse then Killjoy ever did." Raven said, but she smiled slightly when she said it.

Robin walked over to Starfire, who was sitting, her knees drawn up to her chest.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"Yes. I am no longer injured and our foe has been vanquished, but…" Starfire said, and then went silent.

Robin knew why. Dealing with criminals was hard, with so much sickness and flaws amongst the human race. But insanity…rage…greed…hate…looked at in a certain light…all minor things…

But to do something for no other reason then doing it, for no reward other then getting it done…

That was true deviance.

Starfire was looking at him again, her eyes fearful.

"It WAS the boogeyman." She said.

In the end, Robin could only agree with her.

Next: Lover's Walk!


	10. Lover's Walk: When Young Man’s Thoughts ...

Lover's Walk I: When Young Man's Thoughts Turn To…

"Love is friendship set on fire."

Jeremy Taylor

"Good to have you back Noel." Robin said as he escorted Noel back into the Titan Tower. "You picked a good time to get hurt."

"So I heard." Noel said. "Did you find his body?"

"No." Robin said. They'd searched as much as they could, even calling in a favour from Aqualad, and found no Killjoy. Robin just hoped the body had been washed away. He didn't want to think of the alternative.

"Hey Savior! Good to have you back! Oh, new threads!" Beast Boy said. He turned into a chimpanzee and bounded into Savior's arms.

"Argh, monkey breath!" Savior said, dropping Beast Boy. He had gotten new clothes: his jeans were now light blue, but his shirt was now white and his white "leather" jacket now had a stylized S on the back, a pointy design as not to rip off Superboy. His boots remained white, his hair as well.

"Sorry if that offends you Gar. Before he left the Watchtower Noel got to meet all the BIG superheroes. He may not want to hang around with us little guys anymore." Robin teased.

"You're just as important as they could ever be Tim: you're my team. But I mean, sheesh. That was SUPERMAN." Noel said, speaking in awe. "I mean, him…Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter…those guys are living legends."

"Not to mention Batman." Robin added. Noel's eyes narrowed.

"I don't know if I like your mentor as much as I used to…I still respect his incredible abilities and brain, and it was nice that he made me these new clothes…"

"With FAR better protection then your old gear!" Robin said. Noel's new clothes weren't as good as his specialized gear, but they were fairly close.

"A lot heavier too." Cyborg groaned as he lugged in a huge crate on his back containing backup sets of Noel's clothes.

"But all that is matched by this "Holier then thou, you don't deserve to be doing any good because you're a human and therefore flawed and your effort will probably turn bad" mindset…I'd love the chance to be trained by him but I don't think I'd want to hang around him. Is he always like that?"

"And worse." Robin said. Cyborg groaned again and Savior snapped out the Shimmer to help him.

"NOEL!" Starfire squealed as she ran from the kitchen and jumped into Noel's arms. Noel gasped.

"AIR!"

"Sorry!" Starfire said, smiling. "Are you ok?"

"All fixed up. Heard you guys dealt with a nutso assassin while I was gone." Savior said.

"You can let go Victor, I can carry this to my room…"

"Nice to know you have something to put in your closet…" Robin said as he handed Noel the various jackets, shirts, pants, and boots, in a variety of colours. Maybe he should let his next set of uniforms have some variety…

"A house is not a home and all…" Savior muttered to himself. His room was pretty bare. Bed, desk, closet, and boxes, far from the highly personalized rooms his fellow Titans had. The only real distinguishing mark was a photo by the bed.

"What's wrong Noel?"

Noel looked at his closet for a moment, and then turned back.

"Where was Raven?"

"Mediating, probably. She's not big on these things."

"I gathered." Savior replied, turning and stuffing more clothes into the closet.

"What's wrong, Noel…?" Robin asked. Savior sighed.

"What's her story?" Noel asked.

"Um…Noel, I don't know if I should give you that kind of…"

"Please?"

"….Ok, but don't tell her."

Robin spoke of Raven's origin, the child of the demon Trigon and a human woman, and the hardships this had caused her.

"She probably is a fairly kind person at heart, but…she really can't express it. Or pretty much anything. It causes problems."

"Nothing?" Noel asked.

"Yeah." Robin said.

Savior muttered his next words so bad Robin couldn't make them out.

"What Noel?"

"Oh nothing…so that ice queen is just a front, huh?"

"Some. Look Noel, why do you want this info? Really."

"She reminds me of me. I figure she could use a friend." _And something more. Oh god, something more…_

"We are her friends!"

"I know. I know." Savior said. He sighed again and went over to another crate he had gotten delivered from somewhere, taking books out of it and putting them away. Robin walked over and fished one out.

"The Battle Strategies of Alexander the Great." Robin read.

"I'm named after him. My middle name." Noel responded.

"I gathered." Robin said, putting down the book. He walked over and picked up the photo at the end of the bed. It was a woman holding a baby, smiling shyly, in a way that spoke of happiness and yet pain behind it. The right end of the photo was ragged, as if it had been torn.

"Is this your mother?" Robin asked.

"Yes." Noel replied curtly, picking up the Alexander book Robin had put down and going to put it away.

Robin figured that time was as good as any.

"Noel, are you Maxwell Collins' son?"

Savior slammed the book down into the bookcase so hard it echoed through the room, making Robin jump a little.

"Your mentor is also a tattletale." He said to the bookcase.

"I'm sorry Noel, that's just the way Batman is…but are you?"

Noel didn't reply.

Then a brilliant flash suddenly blasted from his body, blinding Robin. He threw up his arms and blinked until the flashing spots went away. He took a look at Noel and gaped as he saw him as he had been before the accident: slim, red-haired, and looking pretty much nothing like he did as Savior.

But Robin could recognize things anyway.

"You are Noel Collins. THE Noel Collins, who went missing three months ago. Maxwell Collins IS your…"

FLASH! Robin was blinded again as a glaring Noel suddenly reactivated his ability. When Robin could see again, he was again the white-haired Savior.

"Only in blood." Savior said. "I didn't go missing, I left. And I'm never going back. EVER. He is not my father and he never WILL be." Noel said, in a cold final tone. Robin looked back at the picture and realized why it had been torn: part of it had been removed. Most likely the part bearing a certain someone.

"But Noel, he's had the police and FBI and…"

"I AM NOT GOING BACK." Savior hissed, an undercurrent of pure hate running through his voice.

"I'm not telling you to, but why…?"

"That is something I do not want to discuss at the moment. Please leave Tim, I'd like to be alone." Savior said, turning away. He began putting his books away again, ignoring Robin.

Robin left, puzzled and wondering if he should give Bruce another call for info.

Then he decided he would let Noel tell it in his own time.

Some time later, Noel sat on his bed, looking at the photo of his mother. Remembering her last hour, and what it had done to him. For better or for worse.

"I've met someone mother." Noel said, talking to the photo. He knew his mother was dead, and being agnostic at best, didn't really think she was in a better place looking down and listening to him. But he did it anyway. It comforted him.

"She's not anything like those women the bastard always tried to use to hook me, in his little games. She's just so…well, knowing of the world. Much like I. But she's got…obstacles in front of her…and even then…what am I feeling? Is it love? Is it that thing? I wonder…I know it's not lust, there are a hundred girls with her kind of face and attitude who would be far more willing…maybe that's why she just strikes me so? A challenge? I don't know mother, all I know is that it's there and that it's strong, and more and more I just want to express it…to her…but I can't think of a way that would work…I don't know what to do mother…all I know is that I have to do something or else I'm gonna explode…"

Noel carefully put the photo back, got up off his bed, crossing over to his bookcase and looking at the volumes. There was very little light reading, but Noel had never been much of a light reader (he had once read the entire Jurassic Park original novel in a day and then said "That's it?" when it had ended). He selected the Alexander book and flipped through it.

Perhaps he should apply a war strategy. It had helped Alexander do the impossible. It had been a while since he had read this book and Noel had forgotten some of the details, but one that came to mind was one battle where Alexander had had about 15,000 men and his opponent had had over 50 times that many, roughly 600,000. However, Alexander's men were well trained, loyal, and fearless, while the king (he had been Persian, Noel believed) had huge numbers of weak, badly trained cowards. Using a wedge strategy, Alexander had weakened the front line of his troops in order to put more men on the sides, and the center had held before the enhanced sides had crushed their opposition and snapped onto the center like a vise. The much larger army had fled, trampling a good deal of their own number underfoot. Their casualties ran into the tens of thousands. Alexander had lost only a few hundred men.

Even the most impossible obstacle could be overcome. It was just a matter of strategy.

Then again, winning the heart of a woman whose half-demon side caused things to float or blow up if she expressed how she felt…

Maybe a war-esque strategy was a bad idea.

Noel put the book away. He'd go see her. The ball was in her court.

God knew how she'd return it though.

It had once been a welding plant, and the shoddy front still suggested it. But anyone with a brain knew this was no plant. There was a new kind of factory in there.

Pleasurable poison.

The boss, Mr. Warrant, thought he had it made. He had figured it all out and now was enjoying the fruit of his labors. He was his own boss, he had enough money to buy whatever he choose (including the silence, or lacking that, the end of anyone who would get in his way). Women threw themselves at him. His neighborhood worshipped him as a king.

He had the troops, he had the position, he had the power.

A king.

Wrong.

The spiky-haired, nose-ringed punk who stood on one of the roofs was the kind of man who would willingly serve in exchange for the product Mr. Warrant and his lieutenants would provide. His brain hadn't been in the best of shape before, and years of shooting junk in his veins and snorting stuff up his nose probably hadn't helped it, but he though he was better off then a lot of the people he knew. Including the masses in that crack house in the side, having lost all their humanity to their addictions, doing anything to get what they craved.

Disgusting.

Worthless.

And most of all, impractical. This will not do at all. 

All Stike ever heard was the slight ringing metallic noise that a well-honed sword will make when being drawn. All he ever saw was a dark figure with a moonlight-lit blade.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Your new king." The dark figure said.

And then he sliced Stike's legs off at the thigh.

"Kneel."

Raven wasn't in her room, and thank god for that: Noel couldn't think of an excuse to come into her room. Instead she was in the gym. The other Titans knew this was HER time and hence kept away, but Noel didn't know that. Instead he walked as quietly as possible to her side.

She opened her eyes from under her hood.

"Noel. You're back. Good to see you." Raven said, and that was it.

Noel stood there, wondering what to say. But his calmly ordered mind was in turmoil. Argh.

"Is there something you want?" Raven asked tiredly. She didn't open her eyes. "If not please leave."

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Noel said. Raven warily opened one eye.

"Why?"

"Seems relaxing."

"Robin knows it as well. Ask him."

"The guy who is currently one step away from getting into a fistfight with Cyborg because of a few points in a game? Somehow I'm not comforted."

Raven sighed inwardly. He was trying to stay again. She would normally be far more annoyed at being bothered. She wondered why Noel wasn't setting that off in her.

"……..Ok, fine. I suppose there's no harm in it." Raven said, half of her hoping teaching Noel a few of her tricks would make him go away, and the other half…wanting some company.

What in the name of Metrion? She NEVER wanted company.

Then again, her company usually consisted of the childish, loud-mouthed, and annoyingly semi-stupid antics of the rest of the Titans. They could be quiet and mature, but they rarely found a reason or a need to. But Noel…

"Sit down. Cross your legs." Raven said. Noel said down right in front of her. Too close.

Yet…she didn't much mind.

"I doubt your muscles know how to calm themselves properly. Here, take my hands."

"HO-KAY." Noel said, his voice cracking. Raven arched an eyebrow.

"Having throat problems?"  
"Oh…maybe…I think one of those Troika got me in the throat good…" Noel stammered.

It was worse then he thought. Why was he being blessed/cursed with this wonderful/terrible torment? He hoped Raven was keeping her empathy talent toned down: the last thing he wanted her was to take a peek at him and be repelled.

He needed a subtle touch. That, and a ton of luck. And hope.

"Now just relax. Not much to it." Raven said, checking Noel's tension through his hands.

And so the two sat for a while, Raven's occasional instructions eventually dissolving into her steady calm muttering chant. Noel found it was relaxing. And he needed relaxation.

She let go of his hands too quickly for his taste. He wondered what it would be like to touch her skin and _MIND OUT OF THE DAMN GUTTER THERE COLLINS_.

"You're not bad at this, for a first-timer." Raven said about half an hour later. She got up. She was leaving.

"Uh, Raven…" Noel said.

"Yes?"

"What does Azarath Metrion Zinthos mean anyway?"

Raven's eyes narrowed.

"Why do you care?"

"Because…well…I do." Noel said. It was the truth.

"……..It's complicated."

"Well, Robin spoke to me of my teammates while we were cleaning up. I know…about your father and all…" Noel stammered, careful not to mention she was the only teammate he had inquired about.

Raven's face darkened at the mention of her father.

"I'd like to go now." She said, turning.

"It's ok, really Raven. I hate the bastard, I mean, my father, too."

Why was she stopping? Why did she care why Noel hated his own father? He was prying and she didn't like it…but she really couldn't sense any malice in his intent and if that wasn't it then why…

"Why?" she found herself asking.

"Well…um…bit of a long story…"

Oh grand, goodbye…

"I'll listen."

Where the heck had that come from? She didn't want to listen! Didn't she?

"My father…you may have heard of him. He's Maxwell Collins."

Raven, even with her rather narrow interest in the world, had heard of him.

"The…?"

"Yeah. Everything they ever said about my Dad is pretty much true…what people rarely hear or care about are the things he sacrificed to do what he did." Noel said, as the whole bitter injustice rolled back over him.

Sometimes he felt bad about his problem. Compared to a lot of kids, he had it made. While they were being beaten by their moms and raped by their fathers, he was having every whim he could ever want catered to.

But that, unlike what most of the world thought, did not bring happiness. No.

"My father's marriage was a power one. No love was there." Noel said. He had wondered a thousand times over the kind of insanity that accepted such things, even thought they were good. "My mother didn't want to marry him. And even when she did she was a wildcat, doing her best to lash out at him. They managed to have me before they started with the separate beds. I was about six months old when my mother had the "accident"."

"She died?"

"No. She lived. But after that…no one would ever tell me what the "accident" was. But whatever it did, every bit of hell my mother had was extinguished. Good thing for my dad. She was embarrassing him constantly. But whatever it was…"

Noel just stopped, wondering how to word it and wondering if Raven would walk away.

She didn't.

"She wasn't June Cleaver, but my mother was the sweetest, kindest woman I ever knew. When I walked with my dad's "partners" aka the people who were trying to screw him before he screwed them, she always stuck out. So many air-headed trophy wives with no idea what the world was like. And their children…spoiled rotten, cruel, with senses of self-entitlement so high I was amazed some of them didn't float off the ground with the amount of hot air they had in them. And through it all, my mom just sat, smiling when she was told, smiling as they laughed at her behind her back, just smiling all the time. I never saw her cry…until the end."

"She taught me everything I know in life. Not my father, though he tried so hard. Not because he cared. Oh no. I wasn't his son. I was his immortality. He knew he would die, so he wanted to make me a clone of him so that his legacy would continue. It's probably why whatever happened to my mother happened. Poor bastard. I inherited my mom's fierceness, and her new self taught me how to use it as best I could. Outright rebellsion didn't work, you had to be subtle in your actions. Because of that, I always knew his little scheme, and I hated him for it. He was nothing but a machine, caring nothing for more money, more power, always more, more, more. He hurt a lot of people. A lot. He didn't care. He never cared. My mom…she cared too much. She tried so many charities, so many ways to help…I found out when I was fifteen that nearly all of her efforts were carefully routed back into my Dad's company via his accountants. What got out was reviled as the "rich bitch" trying to make herself feel better over the way my dad stepped on and used everyone he could. She smiled through it all. I wish she could have cried. It might have let her live longer…"

"Cancer?" Raven asked, somehow guessing.

"Of the liver. I guess she drank a lot. It took seven months. The last four were really bad. But she held on, trying her best to teach me all she could about how she felt about life and living. Was my dad there? No. Not until the end. And that was it."

Noel ground his teeth.

"He came in on her last day. Even after all the things the bastard had done, she let him in. She said her time was almost here and she asked for one last thing. I knew what she wanted. She wanted him to say he loved her. He didn't even have to mean it. He just had to say it. THREE DAMN SIMPLE WORDS."

Raven already knew what had happened.

"He didn't say it. He got up and left. She died an hour later. I was there. I gave her all the comfort I could. She cried for ten of her last fifteen minutes. It was the only time I ever saw her cry. Then she told me she loved me, and that she knew I would do great things. Wanna know her last words? "Don't hate your father. It's all he knows." And then she was gone."

Noel suddenly sniffed, and then he put his hand to his face as he fought back some tears.

"I kissed her goodbye, closed her eyes, went back to the house that was no longer a home, got some clothes, raided my savings, and walked out. I didn't see my mother buried. I have never visited her grave. I may never be able to. Because of him. I tried to honour my mother's last words, but I'm too weak. I hate him. I loathe him with every ounce of my being. I will never go back to him. He will not have his legacy. He will die and he will be forgotten. I left, took buses across the states, landed in New York, got mugged, ended up in a shelter, and about ten days later I was engaged in a fruitless job hunt when I got off a subway and a paint truck crashed. And now…here I am."

Noel took his hands away from his face, and the Shimmer emerged from his palms, flowing around him in a few loops and then floating in front of him, almost like it was looking at him.

"I'd like to think she'd have been proud of me."

Raven cocked her head, and then, as much to her surprise as to Noel's, she reached out and took his shoulder.

"She would be."

And then she left.

Noel watched her go.

Now he knew. The path he had to walk may led to heartbreak…

But he was going to walk it anyway.

Raven left. She had to think.

Though she was pretty sure she would find no answers on what bothered her.

Mr. Warrant was on the phone shoring up a deal when the body landed on his table. The legless, gutted body, it's mouth open in a silent, eternal scream.

He looked at it, hanging up.

"Isn't that Spike?"

"Not Spike, Stike. I have no idea what it meant either." Said one of his lieutenants. Men with guns had already begun filing into the room, summoned by a silent alarm.

"We have a problem. Deal with it." Mr. Warrant said.

"Don't bother." Said a voice up in the rafters.

Everyone immediately aimed at the voice and opened fire. Gunfire filled the rooms, drawing in more gunmen from the other rooms where product and money was being counted. The racket lasted for nearly 30 seconds before all the clips ran out.

"Wonder if there's anything left of the fucker." Said someone.

"Gentleman! What did that wall that you shot full of holes ever do to you?" came the voice again. This time it was on the floor.

More gunfire filled the room.

Laughter started up as it finished. Mocking laughter.

"Laugh all you want, we'll get you eventually." Mr. Warrant said as he ejected his empty Glock clip and slammed another one in.

"I think not. Pawns rarely take the king."

"Shoot the fucker!" Mr. Warrant ordered. Yet more gunfire.

"Waste all the ammo you want." Came the voice, from the ceiling again, when it died down.

"What is this guy, a ghost?"

"No. Could a ghost do this?"

Then a dark figure streaked from the shadows, landing on a gunman. In half a second there was the start of a scream, a wet ripping noise, and then more gunfire as the figure bounded off the body, over the gunmen's heads and back into the shadows the dimly lit room had. That was all the time he had needed to rip the man's chest open, as the victim gurgled and then died.

"There's a new time dawning, you scum, and you aren't a part of it. I can't be having you." Said the voice.

"What the fuck are you talking about who the fuck ARE you?" said one of the lieutenants. 

"Look out the window."

Gunfire demolished the window.

"I said LOOK out it, not shoot it, you wastes of tissue."

More gunfire. Gunmen had begun leaving the room to get more ammo.

"Out there…is the night. My kingdom. I am its lord."

Yet more gunfire, as more guns clicked dry.

"Its my time now. You are not wanted, needed, and worst of all, useful."

And then he was there, amongst the group, a black suited man with shoulder length black hair and burning black eyes as his black-gloved fist drew his titanium katana blade.

"So die."

The blade slashed out, slicing a gun in half and cleaving off most of the gunman's hand before the slicing blade met another gunman and sliced his stomach open. People aimed and fired, but the Lord of the Night, as he had so named himself spun away and the gunmen shot some of their fellows instead.

A lieutenant screamed as the sword stabbed through his back a moment before he was lifted and through into the wall. A gunman came up to the Lord's side but the Lord slashed his right arm that way. Metal talons exploded from his gloved fingers and sliced the man's throat open. Still slick with the previous' man's blood, the Lord whirled and stabbed the nearest man through the chest, then drove his hand all the way through the man and gutted the man behind him.

A group opened fire again, but the Lord swung the body still stuck on his arm and put it in the way. Bullets riddled the corpse as the Lord calmly reached down and picked up a Sub-machine gun one of them had dropped and used it, blowing heads and chests apart with seeming ease.

Another group opened fire at him from the cover of a door. The Lord pulled the body off his arm and transferred his sword to his other hand, even as his palm opened and a grenade slid into it. He primed it and hurled it into the room. It detonated a second later, spraying the room with flaming napalm. Screams filled the building

"Forget napalm, cooking human is a truly great scent." The Lord said as he recalled a famous scene from a film about Vietnam. He spun the sword and headed after the rest of the cockroaches.

He went from room to room, leaping and dodging through the waves of bullets as his sword and talons soaked every room he passed through with gore. By the time he had gone through all the rooms it was dripping off him in streams.

It was down to Mr. Warrant, one lieutenant, and several remaining gunmen when the Lord burst into their room. The Lord stabbed one of them through the back with his claws and took advantage of the way three of them had lined up as he slashed his sword out in a wide arc, decapitating all three of them (well, he didn't quite get the last one, but he removed enough of his head to be fatal).

Mr. Warrant fired his gun, sure that he was hitting. And some were. But whatever the man wore, it took the bullets without slowing the man down.

The last gunman started firing as the last lieutenant started bringing his reloaded gun up.

The Lord spun and hurled his sword. It pierced through the gunman and carried him backwards with so much impact that the blade then pierced the lieutenant's gun hand, pinning him to the wall as he screamed.

Mr. Warrant's gun clicked dry.

The Lord walked over to the screaming lieutenant and placed his metal taloned hand on his head, shoving it backwards and crushing it against the wall as he pulled out his sword.

Mr. Warrant shoved a new clip in his gun as the Lord turned around.

"Question is, can you kill me before I can kill you?" the Lord asked.

Mr. Warrant aimed.

And then his hand was sliced off. He gasped and look at the spurting stump as he tried to figure out how the Lord had gotten across the room so fast.

"Guess you won't be the one to kill me." The Lord said, and twisted his sword before driving it and his claws into Mr. Warrant, yanking them outward and pulling him apart. Blood soaked him.

He ignored it.

He went back through the room, ignoring the money and drugs strewn about. In a minute he had found the dark room where many users waited, doing anything they could for a fix.

The Lord's eyes narrowed in disgust as many unspeakable acts went on in plain view, all in the desperate need for something that would kill them.

"Disgusting." The Lord said, taking a few steps back and retrieving another submachine gun. "You sold all your potential for poison. You bring nothing to society. Goodbye."

The Lord emptied the clip into the room, ignoring the screams. Junkies had no place in his world. They had no future except as leeches. 

Not practical.

He ran out of bullets before he dealt with all the things that dared call themselves human in there, so he found another clip and emptied that one too. That dealt with the problem.

He went back through the rooms, emptying everything that was flammable onto the floor and walls. It took a little while. He could hear sirens coming as he finished.

As he headed for an exit, he found a small surprise: a stabbed man who was still alive.

"Can't do this…" he was saying.

"You're right. I can't." said the Lord, as he lit a match. "I must. My kingdom must be cleansed."

"Gonna have you…mother fucker…!" the guy coughed as blood leaked from his mouth.

"Is that gas I smell?" the Lord asked, and threw the match.

He left the burning, exploding building behind. There was still much work to do.

Uh oh. This is gonna be a problem…on the next chapter of Lover's Walk!


	11. Lover's Walk: Tis Better To Have Loved a...

Lover's Walk II: Tis Better To Have Loved And Lost…

SR: A scene where Noel sang to Kory. This is one of the removals I feel is better, as in retrospect I had NO IDEA what I was thinking when I wrote the chapter. In the scenes where Noel was singing, I will simply write "Noel singing". If you really wish to see the scene as it originally was, email me.

* * *

"Police are calling it another Saint Valentine's Day massacre…" the newsman was saying before Victor turned the X-Playcube 2 on. 

"Hey, that may have been important!" Gar said.

"Doubt it. Drug building. Deal gone bad, most likely. No evidence, no one saw anything, no convictions. Nothing we can do except crack a few heads and make ourselves feel better for a bit before the cops let them back on the streets for lack of evidence." Victor said bitterly. Costumed metahumans that did villainous acts were bad, but at least their crimes were so open that they always went to jail when they were caught.

"Wait a minute, what did he say?" Tim said, turning off the radio.

"Calling it another Saint Valentine's…" Gar began.

"HOLY…CATS! It IS Valentine's Day! How could I forget that! Oh no! Oh dear! Oh crap!" Robin said as he ran out of the room.

"We nearly got killed by Mr. Ice, cut us some slack for forgetting the days." Gar said as he began a game with Victor.

"Tell that to Kory."

"She ain't human, maybe she'll cut him some slack."

"She's a woman, she doesn't have slack to cut. She is totally without slack. I am awed by her utterly slackless nature." Victor said.

"Kinda wish you had someone to run around for?"

"Kinda."

"Happy Valentine's Day bro."

"Happy Valentine's-ARGH! You stupid monkey boy!" Victor yelled as Gar zapped him with a missile.

* * *

Noel had noticed the date, and was walking around collecting certain things when he ran into Kory.

"Hello Noel! Would you like to try some of my Hyeryu Gtut?" Kory asked, offering Noel a foul-looking dish.

"Depends. Will it poison me?"

"Uh…."

"Kory, forgive me if this sounds harsh, but you and I are two different species, and even though we share a good many similarities, something you may eat with relish may kill me. It goes both ways: you should be careful what Earth foods you eat."

"Is that why Robin and Beast Boy always run away when they try my food?" Kory asked.

"Probably."

"Oh good, I was just worrying I was making it wrong! I'll just cross-list my ingredients with stuff that is lethal to humans and then they'll probably love what I make for them!"

Noel facevaulted. He was silently apologizing to his teammates for what he may have done as he began picking up the stuff he had dropped.

"What are you doing today Noel?"

"Something."

"What?" Kory asked cheerily.

"Something."

"What?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Are you going to get beat up by Robin again? That would clash with the plans I think he has for this day." Kory said, looking confused.

Noel sighed inwardly. He kind of wished he had fallen for Kory. Sure, he would have had to fight over her with Robin, but she had such a kind, affectionate nature that winning her would probably be easy.

Raven would be…not so easy. But he was going to try anyway.

"No, I don't think I'll be getting beat up by Robin any time soon." Noel said.

"Well, good luck!" Kory said.

"Thanks. I'll need it." Noel said as he left.

* * *

Noel knew how to fight (his battle with Robin notwithstanding: skill in the martial arts did not a whole warrior make). His father had made him read all the war books he now had (perhaps the one good thing the bastard have ever done for him) and taught him all kinds of nasty tricks he had expected Noel to use when he inherited the business. On the other side, his mother had taught him the importance of compassion and caring. Now the two sides were clashing with each other while trying to decide what to do with the Raven situation.

Ultimately, he had decided that a simple, classic approaching would be best, up front. Trying subtle tricks to try and get Raven to notice and like him would not work: she was too smart for that. He may as well give her the indication he liked her and hope to god she didn't throw it back in his face.

He didn't know what he was going to do if she did.

He could have bought a card, but he felt she might get the hint better if he made something.

And so he was back in his room, trying to carefully make a card for her. About a third of the way through he decided to try and write a poem as well, hoping how he felt might grant him inspiration.

It didn't. Neither did it aid his somewhat lacking art skills.

"AH…!"

* * *

"FUCK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" yelled Lieutenant Edward of the WKWP department as the Lord of the Night (apparently quite capable of coming out in the day, providing the day was as dark and dreary as this one. Looked like the rain that hadn't happened a few days ago wanted another chance) dangled him off the edge of the building. Edward had been looking out the window when a strong hand had grabbed him and yanked him up the side of the building.

"All too well, MR. Edwards. That is what you like to be called by the people who sent you your money, don't you? Makes you feel better about the fact that those sociopath gangsters you deal with scare you shitless."

"What are you talking about?"

"WRONG answer." The Lord said, and let go. Edward screamed as he fell two feet before the Lord grabbed his leg again.

"Stop it! I didn't…do anything…"

"Liar. I can see you. See your greed and treachery. People gave you power and you have abused it. You serve no purpose in my world."

"Wait! I can get you…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Edwards screamed as the Lord dropped him and let him fall this time. He made a satisfying splat.

By the time fellow officers reached the roof the Lord was long gone.

* * *

While Robin ran around, attracting WAY more attention then he wanted, trying to get stuff (though people would sometimes give it to him for free in exchange for an autograph or photo). He also stumbled over an attempted van jacking and in the process of stopping them, allowed a band that was performing that night to keep their instruments. They had offered him some tickets but he had said he couldn't accept and ran on (what had been their name? Nickelback? He could have sworn he had seen the lead band member somewhere singing about something that applied to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it…and speaking of fingers, what kind of band needed so many guitars? The three guitarists had nearly twenty of them! Weird… )

In any case, around Robin ran, while Noel slaved away in his room, wracking his brain and torturing his hands. He had given up on writing an original poem and had decided to modify Poe's poem from which the object of his affection shared a namesake.

At least that was what he had been trying to do before Beast Boy had shown up.

"Hey Noel, whatcha doing?" he suddenly yelled behind Noel. Noel shot bolt upright.

"Oh nothing much…" Noel said, turning around and putting his body between his attempted work so Gar couldn't see it. Gar's interest was fleeting, as he noticed the lines of books Noel had brought in.

"Whoa, lotta reading! Any Playboys in there?" he said, grinning wickedly.

"NO!"

"Liar! I'm gonna look!" Beast Boy said as he turned into a spider-tail monkey and began pulling books out. Noel sighed and tried to go back to his work.

"The Art of War, by Sun Tzu! War and Peace, by Leo Tolsky! The Prince, by Machevelli! Noticing a theme here! Ah, a non-war book! "Déjà vu, the Feeling You Are Doing Something You Have Done Before!". Interesting! What's next! "Déjà vu, the Feeling You Are Doing Something You Have Done Before…" ha ha cute, you must have two books side by side. What next…Déjà vu the feeling…AHHHHHHH!" Beast Boy screamed, running out of the room.

Noel wasn't paying him much attention.

* * *

Neither was Mr. Tappenhuat, for a long time a wealthy businessman and for even longer a vicious pedophile who answered an incessant tapping on his limo window.

"Who the hell…"

The Lord dropped a napalm grenade into the limo and walked off as the car exploded into flame. It took a long time for the screaming to stop.

* * *

Kory wondered where Robin was. This was supposed to be a special human day! He would give her gifts, and then she would be able to kiss him again without needing Noel to be hurt!

Speaking of Noel, she saw him walking past her down another hallway. She wondered what he was doing.

* * *

A man who called himself Incubis had been selling guns for drugs in a back alley. At least he had been before three tossed knives ripped open his neck. Now he was busy on the ground bleeding to death as the Lord ran around hacking his associates up with his sword.

Just as a final insult, the Lord threw another grenade into the car the guns were being displayed/kept in, and the exploding car, when it landed on the ground, landed on Incubis.

* * *

Noel took a deep breath and knocked on Raven's door. It was now or never.

Raven slowly opened the door. She had her hood up. For some reason that bothered Noel.

"Yes, Noel?"

"Um, yes, hello Raven, I, uh…well you see, I saw…and was inspired…well you see…I…the…er…um…" Noel stammered.

"Please spit it out or leave." Raven said.

"Um, well…Happy Valentine's Day!" Noel said, holding out the card.

For a few seconds Raven just kept staring at him, and then she looked down at the card that Noel had slaved on for six hours to try and make sure it was perfect. And it was pretty damn good, Noel's complete lack of artistic talent aside. She took it and looked at it for a few seconds.

_Please say something or I'm going to fall over and die here…_Noel thought frantically.

"Noel…" Raven said.

"Yes?" 

"I really don't buy into the foolish sentiment of this. It's dumb, it's pointless, and that's about it. Good day." Raven said.

And she dropped the valentine on the ground. A few moments later her door closed.

For a few more seconds Noel just stared at the door.

"I also…wrote a…poem…" he said to the door, numbly taking out the page he had in his pocket.

It was funny. You could expect and prepare for the worst as much as possible, but when the worst came, it floored you.

At least Noel knew what to do now, as he stared at the door and a vicious heat began building in his gut. She had just taken it and dropped it like…

"Fine. FINE!" Noel cursed, crumpling up the poem and throwing it at the door before he stalked off. He desperately needed to hurt something.

For a few more seconds the hallway was still, and then Kory came out from behind the hallway she had hidden behind to witness the scene. She bent down and picked up the crumbled poem, smoothing it out and reading it.

"Oh Noel…now I understand…and I'm so sorry…" Kory said.

* * *

Raven hadn't heard Noel's angry curse or Kory's apology to the air as she had walked away from the door.

So Noel liked her. So what. She had done what she had to do. He'd forget her now and go somewhere else, away from her…

Leaving her alone…

What was she thinking? She was always alone. It was her destiny…

Unless someone had the desire to try and change it…

Raven shook her head. This wasn't happening. She felt nothing for Noel except the link as a teammate and…

Friend?

More then that you silly girl and you know it. You knew it since he got your tea right in one shot…

No, no, NO. She was being foolish.

There was nothing.

Then why did she feel so sorry?

* * *

It was a sorry looking place, filled with sorry looking people, thought they didn't believe that and only a fool would call them that to their face.

Perhaps that made the Lord a fool then.

He drew attention the second he walked into the little dive. He was the only white man there. Plus, his black armoured outfit didn't fit in with the motif of the gang there, which was mostly no shirts and pants so loose they always seemed on the verge of falling down. Everyone glared at him as he walked in, sword on his back, looking for the leader. He found him easily. He could see him in a way no man ever could.

He wondered if the foolish press would accuse him of racism for this act. It would be just like them, never mind he was just striking wherever he found scum that had to be removed, and that was everywhere.

Skin colour didn't matter. It was chemical pigment. What mattered was what was inside you. If you had anything to offer society.

Black, white, purple, green, blueish-pink with maroon polka dots, they were scum. They had no use. They were not PRACTICAL.

"Do you know what Crip stands for?" he asked the leader.

"Who the fuck are you, what?"

"Your group might have a different meaning for every man. But I know. It's an acronym. You know for what?"

"What?"

"Cowards Run In Packs."

* * *

Kory found Noel in the training room beating on a heavy bag, and quite viciously. He had apparently learned well from Robin, as his punches were better. Noel was so intent on pounding the bag he didn't even notice Kory as she walked in with his poem.

"Noel…?"

Noel either ignored her or still didn't notice as he continued punching the living hell out of the bag.

"Noel…?"

He definitely heard her that time. He just continued to ignore her, as he viciously pounded the bag. At least until he screamed and lashed out with the Shimmer, chopping the bag into pieces. The sawdust poured out at his feet as he stood over it, his shoulders rising and falling as he sucked air into his lungs.

"Robin says those things are expensive." Kory said, looking at the ruined heavy punching bag.

"Have his mentor buy us some more. I'm sure he has enough money." Noel snapped, and went over to another bag, starting all over again.

"Noel…I saw what happened."

That gave Noel pause, as he stopped pounding the bag, looking at Kory as sweat poured down his face.

"You like Raven, don't you?"

"GIVE THE WOMAN A PRIZE!" Noel yelled, and went back to the bag.

"I know your anger and pain at being rejected are making you insult me when you don't mean it, but that still hurt Noel."

"Better to dish out pain then to receive it!" Noel snapped.

"Now you don't mean that Noel. I know you."  
"Oh really?" Noel said, stopping his pounding. "What do you know?"

"I know you're kind, you're sweet, and you're brave…"

"Apparently that's not good enough! ARGH!" Noel said as he kicked the bag. "I bare my heart and look what it gets me!"

"Noel…I think she likes you back."

"I think your observation there is a tad bit erroneous Star!"

"No Noel…it's not you. It's Raven."

"What do you know about how Raven feels?"

"Well, I was stuck inside her body once."

Again, Noel paused.

"For some reason I actually believe that happened."

"It did. And I learned some things about her…and one is that even if she feels something, she keeps it repressed."

"Her father?"

"Yes, but also, it's just…she's so used to it. So much so that I think the reason she did this is not so much that she doesn't like as that she does like but doesn't know what to do about it. So she pushed you away."

Noel was silent.

"Noel, I think you should read this to her. It's beautiful." Kory said, holding out the poem.

"It's just a crude modification of another genius known as Edgar Allen Poe."

"The base doesn't matter! The intent does! I can feel your affection in this…"

Noel snatched the paper and crumpled it up again. Kory expected him to throw it away, but instead he tucked it into his jeans.

"But I understand that she did a hurtful thing Noel. Don't hold onto it. Let it out. Here, pretend I'm Raven. Tell me how you feel." Kory said.

"In what way?"

"Everything! Your pain, your anger, your…well, the good things too." Kory said.

Noel cocked his head, and opened his mouth to say something. Then he had an idea, as he looked at his watch.

"I don't like yelling. I prefer something…different…I have an idea. I'll be right back Kory." Noel said as he left the room.

* * *

"What the FUCK did you say?" the gang leader yelled as his various members pulled out guns and switchblades.

"Oh look, you're proving me right. Easy for you to be brave when you have twenty armed men to back you up. I'd off to take you on one on one but you'll probably just say…" the Lord said.

"ICE THIS MOTHERFUCKER!"

"I knew it." The Lord said, and with a quick flash his sword was out and two gang members had been cut in half.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Kory asked as Noel came back in with a stereo.

"If the time is right, a certain station should be playing a top ten list, and provided it hasn't changed in the past two hours, I feel a certain song will help me express just how I feel about Raven at the moment. You may want to brace yourself." Noel said as he flipped through the stations. He found it as a song was finishing up. The DJ confirmed his guess and Noel cranked the volume.

"You wanna know I feel, "Raven". Fine. With the exception of a few words in this tune and the sexual suggestion that the main theme makes, this is pretty much it." Noel said. He couldn't sing, but this wasn't about singing, it was about expression.

"Noel what song is…"

(Noel singing, and if you care to know, the song was Eat You Alive by Limp Bizket. I told you, I didn't know what I was thinking)

* * *

The Lord swung low and sliced opened the nearest gangster, then spun and rammed his sword through the chest of another, yanking it upward and out, the momentum throwing the sword over his shoulder and stabbing the gangster behind him through the head. Another gangster aimed a gun at him, and he slashed out, cutting the gangster's fingers off, spinning, and then grabbing the now-let-go-of gun in mid-air and emptying it into the nearest crowd.

* * *

(Noel singing.)

* * *

The Lord slashed a punk's head off with his talons.

* * *

(Noel singing)

* * *

Upending a pool table, the Lord flipped it onto four gang members and leapt onto it, stabbing his sword through the cheap wood, as blood exploded out the holes.

* * *

(Noel singing)

* * *

Another gang member got twin thrown knives through the eyes.

* * *

(Noel singing)

* * *

Grabbing another gang member by his shirt, the Lord picked him up with one arm and flipped him over him, slamming him headfirst into the concrete, shattering his spine and skull. 

The rest of the gang members had fled. The Lord went after them.

* * *

(Noel singing)

* * *

Raven didn't know why she was doing this. She just couldn't stop feeling bad on how she had acted. She had to at least find Noel and tell him it wasn't anything personal.

She hadn't expected what she saw. Starfire was sitting in a chair, and Noel was in front of her loudly singing along to a song.

She had a feeling he wasn't suddenly romancing Kory. But as he switched from screaming to strangely tender and vulnerable lyrics she realized he was singing about her.

(Noel singing)

While she wasn't floored, Raven felt herself be touched. He may have just been singing along to a punk song, and not very well at that, but it had heart.

Directed at her.

(Noel singing)

Noel started repeating himself, saying the last line over again, as Raven lowered her hood.

What had she done to cause this? The first thing she'd done when she'd met Noel was threaten to break him in half. What could she have said or done to inspire this?

She felt something twitch in her. She blinked and then dismissed it as heartburn. Even if Noel was singing his heart out it didn't mean she…

(Noel singing)

Felt…anything…in return…

"Noel…" she whispered to herself.

A sudden beeping got her attention. Her distress signal. Something was happened.

She turned and melted into the shadows, leaving Noel and her confusion behind.

(Noel singing)

* * *

The Lord ran out onto the street as the headlights illuminated him. 

"RUN THE FUCKER DOWN!" the gang leader screamed, as the overloaded car roared as it blasted at the Lord.

* * *

(Noel singing)

The Lord smirked at the charging car and then raised his arm as the claws slid back and parts began shifting into place.

* * *

(Noel singing)

* * *

The car flew at him. 

And a mini-missile slid out of the Lord's arm as he aimed.

* * *

(Noel singing)

* * *

The missile flew. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" all the gangsters screamed.

BLAM! The car exploded and flew upward, spewing flaming pieces of what had been men and metal.

* * *

(Noel singing)

* * *

The car crashed down next to the Lord. 

"Thanks for making yourself such a big target. How practical." The Lord said, and vanished into the night as he slid his sword back into his sheath.

* * *

"Whew…man…that was good…thanks Kory, I needed to vent…" Noel said as the song finished. (Wasn't it annoying you had no idea what it was? Join the club)

"Oh…my pleasure…you were right, that was loud…" Kory said, rubbing her ears. It took her a bit to notice the beeping.

"Oh! Noel! We are wanted in the main room!" she said.

"Why don't _I_ have one of those?" Noel asked.

"Robin was supposed to give you one today! Where has he been?" Kory said as she flew out of the room.

* * *

Robin had been shopping, but no sooner had he gotten back before then he had gotten a message from Batman.

"There have been several incidents that happened last night and today. Batman overheard it. While the locals haven't put it together yet, Batman believes all the incidents may be caused by one individual or a group of them. He wants us to look into it."

"What's been happening?" Cyborg asked.

"Violent deaths. A lot of which seem to be happening by bladed weapons. The deaths are being inflicted, by and large, on less then outstanding members of the community, suggesting a vigilante who thinks he's the Punisher." Robin said. (Writer's Note: Don't ask me how these DC characters keep quoting Marvel ones. They just do, ok?).

"Metahuman?"

"Maybe. In any case, I agree. We don't need nutcases running around deciding who should live or die."

"Definitely." Noel said. He hated men who thought their power gave them the right to decide the fate of others. God knows that's how his father used it.

"So where do we go?" Beast Boy was asking.

"Not sure, the pattern…" Robin was saying, but Noel was trying to avoid Raven. She was also trying to avoid him. Noel turned around and bumped into Kory.

"Noel, don't do this!" Kory whispered to him. "I think you should try and say something again! Believe me, it's worth it! Love is grand!"

* * *

"BITCH!"

The heavy fist slammed against her face, knocking her down.

"I work all day and I expect a hot meal when I get home! Is that so HARD!" the man yelled, kicking his wife in the ribs. He outweighed her by over 200 pounds of muscle and fat (mostly fat), and the impact was devastating.

"I guess you need another lesson!" he said, punching her again. She didn't fight back. There was no point.

"Mommy!" came the childish cry.

"GET BACK IN YOUR FUCKING ROOM!" the man yelled. The child, no more then three, didn't. Instead he watched in horror as his father beat up his mother. He knew that when he was done, he would probably come after him. It was why he didn't have a sister any more: because Daddy needed some clean towels and there hadn't been any…

"FUCKING WORTHLESS WHORE!" the man was screaming, kicking his wife again. "I'M GONNA….AIIIIIIIIIRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" the man screamed as the claws exploded out of his chest. A moment later the sword swung around and pressed against his neck, and then the Lord simultaneously cut and twisted, ripping the man's head off and silencing his scream. He pulled his claws out and kicked the body out onto the dirty kitchen floor.

"Scum." The Lord said, and spat on the corpse.

The woman, battered and bleeding, was trying to get up to say thank you when the Lord turned cold eyes on her.

"Did you love him?"

Stunned, the woman just nodded. She couldn't help it. Even after how much he had hurt her…

"You let him beat you and hurt you, and your CHILDREN. You let him KILL one, and you still LOVED him? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" The Lord screamed. The woman wilted again.

"Wait. I know. I know how you women are broken and shaped. That's no excuse. You had the power and you abdicated it. You're worthless and unneeded." The Lord said, and raised his sword.

"No please…" the woman begged.

SLASH! No more words.

The Lord sheathed his sword and then noticed the child, who just stood there in dirty pajamas, crying silently.

"Why did you kill my mommy…and daddy…"

"Sorry kid. It's an issue of quality. They had none. Now you…" the Lord said, walking over. "Man. You stayed here you would have either died or been turned into a brutish thug like your old man. But if you get released into the system, the loveless overcrowded system, you'll probably come out of it a criminal anyway. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Sorry kid." The Lord said, kneeling down and taking the kid's head with one hand.

A small knife snapped into the other.

"It's better this way."

It was quick: he aimed for the brain stem. The kid never felt anything: he just blacked out and was gone. His small, frail body fell over.

"Sorry kid. Nothing personal. But no matter which way you went you would have served no purpose to society except to hurt it. Nothing personal. Just practical." The Lord said, and left.

* * *

Robin got a call twenty minutes.

"We have a fresh crime scene. We have some new bodies…" Robin said, his face grim. "Including a kid."

The Titans' faces reflected their leader's.

"This guy has to be put down. HARD. Let's do it." Robin said.

* * *

Some time later the Titans, a little distance from the crime scene, listened as Robin gave out the orders.

"Unless he can fly or teleport, or he has a vehicle, he can't have gone far. And I have a hunch this guy is someone who goes around on foot. I say we split into pairs and each search a direction. If you find him, call us." Robin said. Night was coming, and the skies rumbled threatening another thunderstorm.

The Titans replied in the affirmative.

"Ok Starfire, you come with me…" Robin said.

"Big surprise." Cyborg muttered.

"You were SURPRISED?" Beast Boy replied/muttered, and the two began to snicker.

"And you two chatterboxes can go together to the east. Savior, you and Raven search the west."

"What/what?" Savior and Raven said at about the same time. "Um Robin…"

"No time! We have to find this guy before he kills again!" Robin said. "Go guys! Quickly!"

Though he wasn't certain, Savior was pretty sure he saw Starfire wink at him as she flew off with Robin.

* * *

Some time later, the sky was rumbling more then ever, as Savior landed on a rooftop. He scanned the area as Raven floated in near him.

"Find anything Raven?"

"I'm sensing nothing…" Raven said, and then turned. "Look Noel…"

"SAVIOR. We're in the field Raven. Please be professional." Noel replied.

"Savior, look, about what…"

"Forget it Raven. We have to find this guy."

"But…"

"FORGET IT. Look, you go over there and check, there's more hidey-holes and you can sniff him out with your emotion sensing powers. I'll go this way, ok?"

"………….Makes sense. Don't be a hero now…" Raven said as she flew off, now more confused then ever.

Savior wasn't confused. Raven speaking to him had ripped open the old ache, and while he tried to keep his thoughts to the mission, it kept drifting back to Raven and this morning and what Starfire had said.

_If only I could find some way to get her…to express…_

Savior landed, his feelings broiling in him. That did it. He was going back to Raven and reading her the poem.

Actually, he was going to read it to himself first so he could try and get the guts to do it to Raven.

"I wrote this for you Raven. I know it's not exactly original, but…" Savior said, speaking to himself as he took out the crumpled paper. "Um, ok….once upon a midnight dreary…"

Savior read his poem to himself. Or so he thought.

"Tis just a girl, I did try and say, threatening to knock me to the floor. That it is and nothing more." Savior read.

On it went.

The shadows shifted around Savior, as he went on.

"And I doth lie here tormented by mine heart to be contented, feelings that shake me to the core…that which I may feel…" Savior said, wrapping it up.

"Nevermore." Came a new voice.

Savior whirled, dropping the poem. At the same time lightening flashed and the sky finally opened up.

"Have a reason you're up here, or are you just mangling Poe?" the figure said.

"You're him. The killer." Savior said, tensing the Shimmer.

"No, you're wrong. I am merely the beginning of a new age. But don't blame yourself. It's fitting those of the old times will label me as evil. It's the same ignorance that has led to society being in such a sorry state. But worry not. I, like your namesake, will be a savior."

"What the hell are you rambling about? You're just some…"

"Lunatic killer? Serial maniac? Something along those lines? Poor child, how blind you are."

"How dare…"

"Shut up and listen. Maybe you'll wake up. But I doubt it. Do you think you're making a difference, 'hero'?"

"I…"

"You run around and catch morons running around in their underwear being controlled by massive inferiority complexes. I'd say give you a medal, except they do. And meanwhile the true problems, the true rot of society, continues to seep deeper and deeper, poisoning us all with its corruption."

"You killed innocent…"

"I CLEANED UP TRASH! IT HAS TO BE DONE!" the Lord yelled. "Society has become too sick, too filled with wastes of flesh which suck up resources and prey on people who could actually DO something! YOUR kind has let it come to this. YOUR kind run around patting yourself on the back while the cancer eats away civilization. Your kind…"

"And who might YOU be?" Savior snapped.

"This is the night. I am its lord. It is what was always meant to be."

"You're insane." Savior said.

"No. YOU are. I've woken up. I've seen the problem, and I know what I have to do. I must cull this city, this country, this planet, THIS. It must be cleansed. All the waste must be taken care off and burned. Or they will consume us. It's what's needed. It's what I must do. It's what's PRACTICAL."

"No, what's practical would be you in a rubber room for the rest of your life. HAH!" Savior yelled as he lashed out with a Shimmer-bludgeon.

"Silly boy. I am not some lunatic you can just put down with your abilities!" the Lord yelled as he leapt out of the way. "I have my own tricks. Including one, that while you were desperately trying to prove that your ways are not dying, told me everything I need to know. Including that your "Shimmer" there is vulnerable to bladed weapons. So, it's probably not a good idea if I use THIS on it!"

And then pain blasted through every part of Savior's being as the Lord slashed out his sword and sliced through the Shimmer as it lanced at him. Savior screamed and collapsed, trying to get past the terrible pain.

"Poor boy. I think you need to learn some practicalities of life." The Lord said as he walked up to him. Noel looked up and then the Lord slammed his metal fist across Noel's face, sending him flying across the roof.

* * *

The pain was so great that she felt it even from this distance, as Raven's head snapped around.

"Noel."

* * *

Savior groaned and tried to reach for his belt, but the Lord's hands were there first, clipping his transmitter off and crushing it between his fingers.

"Ooops."

"Laugh while you CAN!" Savior snarled, sending the Shimmer out again, as it whipped around the Lord and snatched the sword out of his hands even as another tendril coiled into a ball and lashed…

Agony filled Savior's being again as the Lord snapped out the claws on his metal arm and sliced the Shimmer again. His scream was lost in the crash of thunder.

"Sorry. Cyborg. Should have told you." The Lord said.

A tendril of Shimmer still hung from Savior's right hand, quivering. The Lord picked up his sword again as he scooped up the Shimmer with his metal hand.

"Interesting trick you have here. I wonder what would happen if I did this." The Lord said, and ran his bladed finger along the Shimmer strand like a razor. He actually peeled a bit of the Shimmer off, and Savior's yell/groan of pain indicated he didn't like that much either.

"Huh, guess it doesn't cut as much as a cut. But it still hurts, huh?"

Savior twisted to try and get away, but the Lord just ran his blade finger along the Shimmer again and Savior was wracked with pain, freezing him. The Lord of the Night chuckled and then stepped on his head, resting on the leg but not putting his full weight on it.

"Well, now that I have your…complete attention, let's talk, shall we? Maybe I could make you realize some things."

"FUCK YOU." Savior cursed. He yelled as the Lord sliced the Shimmer again, keeping a tight grip so Noel couldn't get away.

"Now now, no need for profanity. Say, I have a game we can play! It's called "Justify Your Existence". You win, you live! You lose, well…" the Lord said as he picked up his sword and then spiked it into the ground next to Noel's head. "Need I say more?"

"Bastard…"

"Question No 1! Why do you deserve to live?"

"I help people…save their lives…"

"Just people, huh? Ah, now there you see is your first problem. Most of those people are WORTHLESS! They serve no value then to cause more problems or just sit by while the problems get worse. You are just adding to society's woes, so BUZZ, WRONG!" The Lord said, slicing the Shimmer. Savior groaned.

"Anything else?"

"You're insane…nothing I say will appease you…"

"Aw man, giving up already? Not very hero-like of you. Then again, in the end you're what you were in the beginning: hairless apes obsessed with your own survival. Lemme ask you: what you would do to get out of this? Would you kill an innocent person?"

"Never!"

"Buzz, WRONG!" the Lord said, slicing the Shimmer again. Savior screamed again. "You think you won't? Let me play with you a few hours. Enough pain and people will do anything. It's what you ultimately are, kid: an animal that wants to SURVIVE. Your little protestations…they won't seem very practical after a while. So I'll ask you again. Would you kill an innocent person to stop this?"

"NO!"

"Liar."

Slice.

"ARRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHH!"

"Just admit it kid. You would. Or you will. It's just a matter of mindset. You'll break eventually kid, and you'll beg to do anything to stop the pain. Kill an innocent. Rape a baby. Hell, I bet I could eventually get you to agree to beat that Goth tail you're chasing to death."

"How do you…know…"

"I told you kid. I know. I can read people." The Lord said, pointing to his head. _Telepath?__ Magician? Something else?_ Noel wondered.

"The last one kid. And believe me, I could."

"NO!"

"You must be a closet masochist." The Lord said as he sliced the Shimmer again. Savior just groaned. "YES, YOU WOULD. Pain is just like those chemical impulses that are making you want to get the little goth chick into the sack. I provide more of those impulses, eventually the old ones get overridden. It's a matter of biology."

"More…then that…"

"Of course it is. WRONG!" the Lord said, and once more sliced the Shimmer, which was now hanging in tatters from the Lord's metal talons. "Your silly thing called love is an illusion. It's the desire to reproduce. Always has been no matter how many humans try to hang extra parts onto it."

"You…poor…delusional…fool. I…pity you."

"NOW whose delusional? Let me tell you one thing I know. You can run to the end of the earth and fight till the end of eternity, but your "love" will remain forever a lie. Hell, it may be a lie now. She's never going to return anything you feel."

"Won't give up…"

"Of course not, you'll be dead. You are dangerously foolish, child. I really have no need for people like you in my society."

"Insane…"

"Broken record. Well, quid pro quo. Give it up kid, Raven will NEVER care for you."

"Maybe not."

The Lord of the Night looked up as Raven floated to the roof, her eyes angry and her hands glowing with dark power.

"But if you don't get away from him, I'll break you in half."

* * *

Raven had arrived! But can she save Noel from the insane Lord of the Night? Can they save each other? Find out in the conclusion of "Lover's Walk!" 


	12. Lover's Walk: Love Is A Many Splendid

Lover's Walk III: Love is a Many-Splendid Thing

SR: A crucial part of the final scene. Once again, to see how the scene originally appeared, e-mail me.

* * *

The Lord looked at Raven. He chuckled slightly. 

"My my, what's this! The girl has shown up to save the guy! Something is wrong here! Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Aren't you supposed to be in danger, so the foolish man under my boot here can show up and save you and thereby get you to spread your legs for him?"

Raven threw a brick at the Lord. He snapped his head to the side, dodging it.

"More where those came from." Raven said, levitating more bricks.

"Can you get me with them before I crush Savior's skull? Try. Really. I'd like to see what happens."

"Do it Raven. Forget about me." Savior groaned.

"Oh, THAT old cliché!" the Lord laughed, and sliced the Shimmer again. Raven winced at Savior's agonized scream.

Something was wrong with the Lord's face. His hair kept it mostly hidden, as did the shadows, but when she got a look, something struck her as wrong about it. She couldn't quite put her finger on it: it looked normal enough. No scars, no weird colours, nothing really except those strangely dark eyes.

"Well, I'm waiting Raven. Throw away."

Raven hesitated.

"You're not going to, are you? I figured. Despite your little rejection this morning, you DO feel something. How touching." The Lord chuckled. Raven gaped. How did he know?

"I have talents, my dear. Talents I will use to cleanse society. You two insist on getting in my way, though. Guess I'll have to deal with you…" The Lord was saying.

Then his sword, incased in dark energy, suddenly yanked out of the ground and swung at him. It took him by surprise, but he still managed to dodge it.

But it was just the opening Savior needed, as he lashed out with another Shimmer strand and whacked the Lord away. The Shimmer then pushed Savior across the roof. He ended up near the ledge, trying to recover from the torture the Lord had put him through.

Raven kept swinging the sword at the Lord, as he ducked and dodged. He did a back flip and then threw some knives at her, and she was forced to let go of the sword to dodge. The Lord reached up and caught it.

"Think I missed?"

Raven's eyes went wide, and she looked down to see if she had suffered an injury she hadn't felt…

She hadn't. Instead she found a tear at her waist and a small bit of wreckage on the ground that had once been her com-link. He'd thrown a dagger right through it, timed it so well she'd actually leapt into it without being aware.

"Now my darling, I was having a little conversation with your friend over there that you interrupted. So why don't I do go over there instead and peel back a few layers of your ice queen front and see what we find, shall we?"

Anger filled Raven, and she fought to keep it under control as she began throwing bricks at the Lord. His sword and talons slashed out, cutting through the baked mud-rocks as he ran at her, getting close despite her barrage.

Just as he swung at her, she sank into the shadows at her feet. The Lord's sword slashed through the air.

"Going behind me, eh?" he said, and turned around.

Then Raven materialized out the same shadows she had just disappeared into.

"Think again."

The Lord turned around as Raven smashed him with a telekinetic bolt, sending him flying through a brick chimney. By now the rain had become a heavy downpour, and she felt water soaking through her hood and dripping down her back.

"Azarath…" Raven muttered as she ripped a door off a stairwell. It floated at the Lord as he pulled himself out of the wreckage. But she didn't throw it into him, no. Instead she lowered it and the door skimmed along the ground towards him.

Just in time for him to walk onto it.

"Metrion!" Raven yelled, and the door suddenly flew upward, throwing the Lord into the air. "ZINTHOS!"

The door zipped out from under the Lord, turned sideways, and then smashed him like a swatter smashing a fly, the wood breaking as the Lord went flying through the air and bounced along the rooftop.

Raven floated over, looking at the man as he got up.

"Nice." He said, holding out his arm.

The skin on it suddenly ripped off as parts emerged and began to shift around, and then Raven realized that the Lord was not wearing a bladed glove. He, just like Victor, had cybernetic parts. Parts that were shifting into a…

Fire suddenly exploded at her. Flamethrower. She flew down and behind another stairwell as fire burned behind her. Looking over the edge, she levitated a dumpster from the alleyway beneath her and threw it over her head. She heard a curse and loud crashing as the dumpster hit something. She emerged from her cover to see the Lord frantically pulling something on his arm. She must have damaged something. Good. She melted into the shadows again.

Emerging behind him, she began lifting the dumpster again…

And then the Lord suddenly did a quick flip and was in her face as his mechanical arm lanced up and twin blades sprouted on each side of her face. She gasped and dropped the dumpster as a third blade poked up against her chin.

"How long can it take you to get something to throw? A second? Half of one maybe? This blade can be in your brain in 1/8 of a second. So in other words, checkmate." The Lord said. The blade lifted, ever so slightly, just cutting into the outer layers of skin under Raven's chin.

Raven suddenly felt fear and tried to claw it back down. But it was hard, in the grip of a lunatic who had a blade ready to shoot into her brain. How had he known what she was doing? Was he physic?

"In a way." The Lord said. Raven started as much as she could with a knife at her throat. He had heard what she was thinking. He must have some kind of telepathic talent.

Telepath….

"Oh yes. If you're thinking of calling your teammates via your mind, I'll know. And you'll be dead before you can even say one word." The Lord said. "My, you are a pretty one, aren't you, in the dusky sense?"

"Let me go. You hurt me, my teammates won't stop…"

"I care not. They are foolish children, predictable and easy to best. But YOU…you have a certain air of knowledge about you…interesting…" the Lord was saying. "Care to play Twenty Questions? Your little friend back there seemed quite adamant on how he felt. Why be so cruel and reject him the way you did, you little ice queen?"

"You…I…you can't…" Raven stammered. She felt the blade push in a bit more. For once in her life she had no idea what to do. Even Killjoy hadn't put her in such a situation.

"Ah. Despite your demon blood, you're only too human. I guess you have to hear it from me. You do have feelings for him. I can see them clear as day. And I can also see how hard you're trying to keep them concealed, even from yourself…poor little girl, cursed by her birthright to be so confused!" the Lord mocked.

"Shut up!" Raven hissed, greatly angered that this lunatic dared to pick her brain and throw her…feelings…back at her like they were something to be mocked.

"Ah ah, don't be getting mad now girl. It's not like anyone made you do this little act of lying. You did it to yourself. You're so good at it you're not even aware of it. Pretty disciplined, if you ask me. But doomed to failure in the end. Even before I showed up, you were starting to crack. You can't help it. Behind that façade of competence and world-weariness is still the heart of a human, a heart that has grown so very weary of being alone. Humans are pack animals, they crave companionship, even as their need to survival insists on taking everything for themselves. You humans. Such paradoxes. You put so much effort into telling yourself that nothing is there, yet the deepest part of you would like nothing more to be touched…"

"But…I…I can't…"

"It's not a matter of practicality. You humans never were the best at those things. It's a matter of desire, and no matter how hard you try and keep yourself together in case you cause something to break…such damaging nonsense. That's why I have to clean up this world…it's time for practicality, not people who keep telling the world and themselves they don't want to be touched when they so dearly DO want to be touched…"

"Who are you to decide how people should feel?"

"I'm apart from them I don't really care if I get touched or not."

"I guess you won't mind this much then."

And then three Shimmer strands spun out of the ground below the Lord and Raven and seized his arm, yanking it down even as another strand whipped out and around him, smashing him in the face. Raven flew backwards, grabbing the dumpster again and slamming it into the Lord. He fell and she dropped the heavy metal container on him.

Savior landed next to Raven.

"I reached out and touched you. You ok?" Savior said, directing the first sentence at the Lord and the second to Raven.

"Fine." Raven lied, trying to keep her voice calm and level over the physic violation she had just suffered and not quite succeeding.

The dumpster flipped over as the Lord pushed it off himself. He was smiling as he got up.

"Ah, the loving couple, reunited again!"

"Shut up. You're going down now, 'Lord'." Savior said.

"Ah, and perhaps in shared adversity, you will be able to win your little goth there, right? That IS what you're thinking under your intent to stop me, Savior. Don't bother lying, I can see you clear as day. Selfish even in the attempt to be selfless. How very human. Annoyingly unpractical."

"Don't listen to him Savior. He's just a lunatic. Let's bring him down." Raven said, as she levitated some more bricks and anything else she could find on the nearby roofs to throw.

"And now YOU'RE trying to convince Savior AND yourself that all I said about your innermost feelings are lies. You people are pathetic. One's so desperate to make a connection, and the other is so desperate to make sure that connection never happens. Well my children, I will just say this."

The Lord's arm shifted again, as a missile popped up and armed itself.

"If you two want to use me as a stepping stone to your separate goals, you better step HARD."

Savior and Raven split apart as the missile flew at them, blowing the roof apart. Raven threw her projectiles at the Lord, and Savior grabbed a hunk of rubble from the wrecked roof and threw it at him as well. Both missed and the three ended up on another roof.

"Keep trying! Until you recognize the greatest practicality of all in life, you won't win!" the Lord yelled, charging at the two.

Raven ripped up the ground under the Lord's feet, and then Savior lashed him with a Shimmer-strand. The Lord flew backwards, and the Shimmer wrapped around him and slammed him into the ground before the Lord's sword slashed out and cut through it. Savior screamed and collapsed next to Raven.

"Noel!" Raven said, kneeling next to him. She had felt his pain, standing next to him.

"Forget it it goes away get the Lord!" Savior managed to hiss from between clenched teeth.

"Nice tricks you have there." The Lord was saying as he got up, his arm shifting around again. "So do I. Let's see who runs out first!"

The Lord aimed at Raven and fired, and she barely got a piece of rubble in front of her before a dozen metal crossbow bolts slammed into it. Growling, she broke the rubble apart and threw the crossbow bolts back. The Lord dodged them, but one impaled itself into his left shin. He looked down in annoyance and then pulled it out, tossing it aside.

"Should have kept looking down!" Savior said, as a Shimmer strand exploded from beneath the Lord and slammed into his chin. The Lord stumbled back, and the Shimmer erupted from the ground as Savior pulled it out and swung it around, forming a large ball-bludgeon that he slammed the Lord with, sending him flying to another roof.

Raven and Savior headed over there, while Raven looked around. The rooftops really didn't offer much in the way of weaponry. The only real desirable weapon she could see was a nearby water tower, and it weighed too much for her to lift.

"You are actually providing a challenge. Not bad." The Lord said.

The two attacked, Raven grabbing whatever she could and throwing it, and Savior being as careful as he could with the Shimmer, lashing and swiping at the Lord. But the Lord was quicker, and another claw slash put Savior down again before the Lord leapt over to Raven and slashed at her. She dodged and retaliated in a way she guessed he wouldn't expect, swinging at his face. She hadn't wanted to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but in this case it might work to her advantage…

She felt her nails catch on something and tear as the Lord recoiled slightly.

This corner of his face was now torn and ragged, and he felt it. Strangely though, it wasn't bleeding. No wonder his face looked odd. It was some kind of mask.

"Not bad goth." He said, and slashed at her. Raven dodged aside and the blade took a large slice out of her cloak.

And then she walked right into his backhand. She cried out as she fell to the ground, even as the Lord's talons slipped away into his metallic arm and new parts emerged.

"You may be good, but me…" the Lord said, as his arm completed it's transformation and sparked. "I'm electricity."

Raven rolled away as the Lord drove the taser into the ground where Raven had been. She tried to get up, but the Lord stepped on her cloak and halted her flight. Frantically she tried to grab something and get the Lord away but he was already closing in with the taser…

Until Savior lashed out and half-slammed half-grabbed with the Shimmer, throwing the Lord across the rooftop. He tried to follow it up with another attack, but the Lord swung at him with his sword and he was forced to withdraw the Shimmer before it got cut.

"Why didn't you just pick him up and throw him away?" Savior asked

"I find it difficult to pick up organic things. If I'm not super-careful I could accidentally pull harder on one part and remove it…" Raven replied

"What? The first thing you did when you met me was pick me up with your power!"

"And you didn't notice how very hard it was for me to do that."

"Well, I say you pick him up anyway and throw him, god damn the risk."

"No. I could kill him by accident. And that's not what we do."

"Good point. But damn, I can't get close. His damn blades keep getting me." Savior said. "Maybe we should try and get the others."

"No, god knows how much damage he could do while we retreated. We have to do this ourselves." Raven said.

"But how?"

"I don't know, but together we must have a way!" Raven said.

"Together…together? Wait a second…" Savior said. "I have an idea. You say you have trouble using your power on organics, right? All organic things?"

"Depends."

"Well…how about this?" Savior said, as the Shimmer emerged from his right hand.

Raven looked at it, and then she understood.

"Give me your hand!" Raven said, holding hers out. Savior's hand intertwined with hers. "Together." Savior said as the Lord got up.

"How practical." Raven replied.

And then the Shimmer shot out of Savior's other hand, no longer white but encased in glowing black energy, flying at the Lord as he raised his sword and slashed…

And was repelled by the black barrier. The Shimmer flew around the sword and whacked the Lord across the face. He swung at it again, but it dodged and rammed itself into his gut, and then snapped up and whacked him across the face, sending him flying backwards a few feet. He stood his ground and continued to swing, but every slash he made was blocked as the Shimmer slammed and struck him from all angles.

"Bastard!" he cursed, grabbing the strand and slamming his taser into it.

"The Shimmer doesn't conduct electricity, you fool!" Savior yelled, and the Lord looked up at him as the Shimmer twisted out of his grasp and LASHED the Lord across the face so hard he was thrown off his feet.

A torn and tattered pink…something…landed near him. Savior and Raven looked at it, and then each other.

A low chuckling came from the Lord, which became mad laughter.

"You know, it's kind of funny…" the Lord said as he got up.

Savior and Raven gaped at him, horrified. It sort of reminded Savior of the movie horror villain Freddy Krueger, except Freddy had been burned. The Lord appeared to have been slashed, over and over again, his face totally torn apart by knives, until all that was left was two eyes peering out of a giant mass of scar tissue.

"Look at you two. Black and white. What a fitting combination, because that's how you see the world. Except your perception is so screwed up you're seeing the black as white and vice versa."

"We know how the world is. You're the one who has lost the reality of it."

"Oh no…I know the reality of it quite well child, and I know this…this world, this society…it has to be cleansed…"

The Lord snatched up his sword.

"OR IT'LL KEEP MAKING PEOPLE LIKE ME!"

The Lord charged.

Right into a Shimmer-ram. Savior and Raven had had enough as together they smashed, lashed, and slashed the Lord over and over again with a half dozen tendrils, trying to slow his rage-fueled forward charge, finally driving him back before they smacked him into the air, knocking him around in mid-air for several seconds before the Shimmer grabbed him and slammed him into the roof so hard the whole building rattled.

"Consider yourself stepped on." Raven said, as Savior lifted the limp vigilante up and trussed him up with Shimmer-restraints. "Nice work Noel. We do work well together."

"Just in combat?" Savior asked.

Raven wondered what she could say. If she replied in the negative she didn't like what would happen, but if she told him the truth…if she let herself feel…

A low chuckling interrupted her thoughts.

"The loving couple." The Lord laughed, and raised his metal arm, still converted into the taser.

"Till death do you part."

And then the taser arm suddenly launched itself, breaking off from the Lord's arm and rocketing towards the two.

Towards Raven.

Savior gasped and tried to snap another strand out of the Shimmer even as Raven raised her hand…

Too late.

The taser slammed into Raven's chest, knocking her hand out of Savior's a moment before the jolt threw her backwards, smoking.

"RAVEN!" Savior yelled. He let the Lord go and ran over to his fallen teammate.

_Oh god. She's not breathing. That taser must have had enough Amp's to stop her heart…_

"Oh boy…"

Savior looked up at the Lord as his arm flew back to him and reattached. He pulled his sword from the ground.

"Forget about her. Worry about ME!" the Lord yelled, and charged.

And as the Lord charged at Savior, kneeling by Raven's dead body, suddenly Savior saw through the eyes that the Lord always looked through, the eyes of a killing rage.

Without a sound, he thrust out his arm, the Shimmer lashing out at a speed he had never been able to muster before, two strands slamming into the katana blade of the Lord and snapping it in half before the main part slammed into the Lord, carrying him backwards and away from the two.

The water tower nearly exploded as the Shimmer rammed the Lord into it and then through it. The Lord's body smashed out the other end and fell through the air, falling off the other end of the building and landing on a car, crushing it with a mighty crash.

The Shimmer withdrew from the tower and twenty feet formed into a blade that slashed through the wood supports of the tower, before the blade re-formed into a battering ram and slammed into the tower.

The Lord's eyes blinked open, as the tower toppled off the roof and down towards him.

"You found it, my boy." The Lord said. "Life's greatest practicality. Survival of the fittest."

And then the tower came crashing down on the Lord, and all was lost in a roar of water and wood.

* * *

The rage was gone almost as soon as it arrived, as Savior turned back to Raven. 

"No."

Lacing his hands together, Savior placed them on her chest and began performing CPR (his mother had made him take medical courses, thank god). He followed it to the letter, doing five thrusts before pulling back Raven's hood, checking her windpipe, and then giving her the breath of life. Back to the chest, then the breath, over and over.

"Come on Raven. It's not your time yet. Come back to us. Come back to ME." Savior said as he continued the CPR.

The rain had broken, and the clouds were parting as Savior worked frantically over Raven, refusing to stop. She wasn't dead. He refused to let that happen.

The moon came out, shining silver over the roof, as Savior completed another set of thrusts and then went to the breath of life…

And then Raven's eyes snapped opened as she gasped, drawing in air for herself. Savior began pulling himself back up…

Only Raven followed, no longer needing him to breath for her…just needing him, as she pressed her lips to his.

Noel hesitated, and then returned her kiss as he reached down and took the side of her face. She did likewise, and for a few moments it was just them…

Until Raven's eyes, closed in bliss, suddenly snapped open again, and she pushed Noel away.

"No…I can't…" she said.

"Raven…what…did I do something wrong?" Noel said as he got up, even as Raven did as well.

"Oh Noel…I can't…I'm so sorry, but I just can't…" Raven said.

"Raven…" Noel said, reaching out to her.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, drawing away. Drawing away from Noel like that hurt her far more then anything the Lord had done, but she had to do it.

"Raven…"

"Noel, if you really care…about me…then stay away. Forget me. I can't love you. I can't." Raven said. She pulled her hood back up to hide her face.

"Raven…I don't care about who you are or anything…I'll…I'll…" Noel said.

"No. I'm sorry Noel. Forgive me." Raven said, and then she was gone, vanishing into the shadows at her feet.

Noel was once again left on the roof, and he lowered his arm and head as the moonlight shone on.

* * *

The rest of the Titans showed up moments later. Robin and Starfire had been too far away to hear the explosions, but Cyborg had with his enhanced ears, and he had contacted the Titans. But without the com-links that the Lord had destroyed, pinpointing Savior and Raven's location had kept them away until it was too late to do any good. The Titans had found Savior at the destroyed water tower, pulling wreckage away. 

"What happened?" Robin asked.

Savior gave them as quick a description as he could as he continued to pull the tower wreckage apart, trying to find the Lord's body. Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy joined in.

It didn't take them long.

But there was nothing to find except a crushed car.

No body.

"What happened to Raven?" Robin asked.

"She had to go somewhere." Savior replied dully.

"Is she hurt?"

_In a way no one can help her with, Robin._ "Nothing serious."

"Hey!" Beast Boy said, as he sniffed the ground nearby. "I found a blood trail."

The amount of water in the vicinity had washed away the first part of the trail mostly, but it was much clearer later: a huge amount of blood in a line that led to an open sewer.

"He got away?" Starfire said, looking into the open manhole.

"No way. At this rate…" Cyborg said, gesturing to the blood trail. "If he's not already dead he will be very soon. No one could survive losing so much blood."

"So we won then guys?" Beast Boy said, happy that Savior and Raven had dealt with the lunatic that had been stalking the streets.

"Yeah. We won. Hooray." Savior said quietly, and then snapped out a Shimmer strand and swung off.

The Titans let him go.

Though, in the end, only Starfire knew why he left.

* * *

Savior swung through the city streets, finally ending up at an arena. He had swung in through an open trapdoor on the roof, made his way through the upper levels, and finally sat down on one of the high light fixtures he had pulled himself up to to avoid security. A roaring crowd thundered below him. Apparently there was a concert about to start. 

The band was coming out. Noel didn't really notice them.

"Raven…"

"Please welcome, NICKELBACK!" some announcer was saying. The crowd roared again, but to Noel they sounded like they were a thousand miles away.

Oblivious to the hurting Titan watching them, Nickelback started playing.

(As you might have guessed, this is where Nickelback sang, their song "Someday")

(Nickelback sings)

* * *

Raven had returned to the Titans when she had composed herself. She had scanned the sewers but sensed no pain. That was good enough for the Titans, and they headed home. 

She didn't ask where Noel was.

* * *

Noel was watching Nickelback play and thinking of what could have been. 

(Nickelback sings)

* * *

Raven left her teammates and headed for her room. She was almost to the door when she spotted something that Starfire had missed: Noel's valentine. 

(Nickelback sings)

* * *

Noel wondered why fate had been so cruel to make him lose his heart for such a woman. Why was love so painful? 

(Nickelback sings)

The band went into a guitar solo.

Noel felt like Chad was playing for him.

* * *

Back in Titans Tower, Gar and Victor had started yet another video game war, and Starfire had gone off somewhere. Nervously, Robin grabbed the gifts he had gotten and went looking for her. 

He found her on the roof, looking at the moon.

"Hey Star…"

"Hello Robin! How nice a night to come out of such a brutal storm!" Starfire said.

"Look…I know this wasn't exactly the best night, running around in the rain while Raven and Noel fought for their lives, but in any case, I just wanted to say…well, Happy Valentine's Day." Robin said, and gave Starfire the card he had ultimately picked out after hours of seaching.

Starfire took it, looking it over. Robin was about to give her another gift, but he didn't get the chance.

"OH TIM!" she squealed, leaping into his arms.

* * *

Raven watched from the shadows, sadly, as Starfire leapt into Robin's arms and immediately kissed him. She turned away as he returned it. 

If only…

Raven walked to the other end of the Tower, leaving the embracing couple to themselves.

The wind made her cloak flutter as she looked at Noel's valentine, so carefully made and written.

(Nickelback sings) 

Raven looked at it for a second longer, and then, closing her eyes, she began to tear it up.

She couldn't. Nothing. No reminders, no hints of possibilities, nothing.

She could not love.

This was her cross to bear.

But even as the pieces of the Valentine fluttered out into the night, she couldn't help crying.

* * *

(Nickelback sings) 

Noel looked sullenly at the band as they rocked, the fans cheered, and Raven filled his mind.

"Someday." He whispered. "I'll find a way, Raven. I'll give you a new destiny."

But until he found that day, Noel didn't know what he was going to do.

Except ache.

(Nickelback finishes up song)

* * *

The pieces of the Valentine floated out, drifting all over the city, floating bits of crimson and lace, as the darkness swallowed them bit by bit. 

And back on the rooftop, Noel's poem, the paper having been soaked and the ink run, and having dried out, floated up in a slight breeze. It too floated into the shadows.

Which spoke.

"Ah, love. Such a many-splendid thing."

Laughter flowed from the shadows, and then they were silent and empty again.

The darkness never died.

* * *

Next: ABERRATION! 


	13. Aberration: Freak Of Nature

Chapter 13: Freak of Nature

Writer's Note: This story was written before the Season 2 episode 'How Long Is Forever' aired, and as a result I used Warp's DC comic version rather then the time travaling version that appeared in the show. Also, SR, a parody theme that played when the guest star showed up.

* * *

It was turning out to be a good day for Emil Lasalle. 

He had been worried when he had been forced to rebuild his costume from scratch, but he had, and now that it was up and running, Warp was back and badder then ever.

The bank had never known what hit it. One moment it had been a normal day, and the next thing they had known Warp had been there in his green and yellow suit. All the guards had been knocked out before they knew he was there, and just to show how quickly he could go, he had knocked out all the tellers as well. The customers had fled, but Warp didn't care much. The police would never lay a hand on him, and even if something did show up that could be a threat, Warp was ready. He just hoped that…

"Man, you people never learn, do you?"

Warp had been putting another bag of money onto the pile he was intending to teleport away with he heard the voice. He recognized it, and wasn't that surprised that it was there.

"Let me list the reasons this was a bad idea! ONE!" Robin said as he leapt down.

"Two!" Cyborg said as he smashed through a wall.

"Three!" Beast Boy said as he flew in as a dove and turned back into his humanoid form.

"Four." Savior said as he lowered himself down from the ceiling.

"Five." Raven said as she appeared from the shadows.

"Six!" Starfire said cheerily as she flew in through a window. She loved this entrance! Now Robin just had to finish it.

"No matter how you do the math…" Robin began.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know. It all adds up to me going down. You did this the first time you stopped me, remember?" Warp said.

"Apparently you don't remember what happened. We kicked your ass! And we'll be glad to do it again." Robin said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Ah. Boy Blunder, you aren't the only one who can add. I've added a few things myself." Warp said.

Robin was about to reply, except he never got the chance.

Because the air in between where the Titans were grouped suddenly exploded, a yellowish energy erupting from nowhere and blowing all the Titans away. Robin tumbled away, nearly hitting the wall before Starfire caught him. Raven managed to stop herself: the rest of the males weren't so lucky, all of them hitting something.

"Ow…I don't recall Warp being able to do that…" Cyborg said, rubbing his head.

"That wasn't Warp." Robin said as the smoke began clearing.

A woman was standing where the explosion had happened. She was black, and had her hair in a rather stereotyped afro style. She had on a yellow mask, grey jacket with a winking yellow smiley face on it, black-grey pants with yellow markings on the knees, and yellow, grey, and black rollerblades.

"Who the heck is THAT?" Beast Boy said.

"Who cares, I have her!" Savior said as he leapt at the woman.

"NO SAVIOR WAIT…!" Robin was yelling.

"Peek a boo!" the woman said.

And then the woman was suddenly gone as another energy explosion detonated where she had been, right in Savior's face. He flew backwards again, grabbing a pair of pillars with the Shimmer to avoid being slammed into the wall again. His bare skin burned. The Shimmer had just caught the tail end of the discharge, but it had acted a bit like a sharp blade, and it hurt.

Then another part of the bank exploded as the woman re-appeared, blowing the desks around her to pieces.

"Who is that Robin?" Starfire asked.

"Like she said. Her name's Peek-A-Boo." Robin said. He only faintly knew the woman from his occasionally scanning of Batman's files.

Peek-A-Boo was a Rogue, a title that had been given to a group of metahumans that usually tangled with the Flash over in his hometowns of Keystone and Central cities. She had a teleportation talent that was latent in nature, unlike Warp's machine-induced skill. However, it was extremely unstable and tended to produce an implosion in whatever area she had just left and arrived in. It was that implosion (rather then an explosion) that had blasted the group and then Savior.

But why was she helping Warp? From what Robin remember, Peek-A-Boo (real name Lashawn Baez) was only considered a Rogue because she had tried to steal a kidney to aid her ailing father. When he had died, she had disappeared, bitter after a stint in prison. However, she had not been a true "Bad Guy" at heart, so why…

"You're not the only one who can recruit help, Titans." Warp laughed, and then he disappeared. Before anyone could blink he re-appeared in front of Beast Boy and punched him, then warped away again when Beast Boy tried to retaliate.

Raven threw something at Peek-A-Boo, but one chant of her namesake and she was gone in a blast. She reappeared near Robin and Starfire, and cried out when Starfire threw some Starbolts at her. One more chant of "Peek-a-boo!" though, and she was gone. A second later, Savior landed where she had been. He had apparently been planning an attack. Growling, he used the Shimmer to toss himself across the bank, literally bouncing off the walls as he waited for her to re-appear.

Robin threw a heat disc at Warp, but he disappeared. Robin waited a second and then threw a Birdarang in a seemingly total random direction.

Warp reappeared some distance away…and the Birdarang smacked him in the face. A second later, a few Starbolts hit him as well, throwing him backwards with a scream.

"They never learn that the tools don't make the man." Cyborg said.

"Oh really?" came a new voice behind them. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg turned around.

Robin gaped.

The man who was standing there, by look alone, certainly didn't look intimidating. He wore a goofy-looking blue-white outfit that looked like a stereotyped Eskimo outfit, topped off with some goofy blue sunglasses. His face was pitted and unpleasant-looking, even with the shades. He didn't look very menacing.

But Robin knew who he was.

If Peek-A-Boo was a Rogue, the man standing before them was their King. His real name was Leonard Snart, and he had been a petty criminal busted by the first Flash, Barry Allen. In revenge, Snart had built a gun that was able to freeze anything it blasted solid. He had battled Barry Allen until his tragic death occurred at the hands of another and then had eventually become a foe of the new Flash, Wally West.

His name was Captain Cold. His name was as goofy as his outfit. But he was a dangerous man, and he was aiming his dangerous freeze ray at the three.

They tried to dodge, but Captain Cold had had years of experience shooting at a foe who could move a LOT faster then the three of them, and he connected with Cyborg. Cyborg could barely yell before ice covered him, turning him into a statue.

"Evening Titans. Chill." Captain Cold said, and fired at Starfire. She barely dodged and retaliated with some Starbolts. Captain Cold rolled, the bolts flying over his head, and then he fired at Robin. Robin yelled as his body was caught by the ray and began to freeze, before Starfire blasted Cold with another Starbolt, throwing him off his feet with a curse.

"Robin!" Starfire said, as she flew down and placed her hands on the ice, focusing the solar energy that powered her Starbolts into heat that melted the ice. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine. Let's take Cold down."

"PEEK-A-BOO!" Peek-A-Boo yelled, disappearing a second later before Savior's Shimmer-whip demolished a pillar.

"Dammit. I know it's a cliché, but stand still!" Savior muttered under his breath as he looked around, waiting.

Peek-A-Boo reappeared with her usually destructive entrance.

And then Raven appeared out of the shadows in front of her and decked her. Peek-A-Boo stumbled back, and Raven lifted up a chair and threw it at her, smashing the seat end into Peek-A-Boo's chest and knocking the wind out of her.

Warp's suit had been damaged by Starfire's bolts, and he was frantically trying to re-route power when Beast Boy pounced on him in the form of a bear, pushing him to the ground and roaring at him. Beast Boy raised one paw, carefully keeping the claws retracted so he would just knock Warp silly and not rip his head off.

At least that had been the plan before Cold sat up and blasted Beast Boy with the freeze ray, turning him to ice. Warp grunted as the extra weight was placed on him before he completed the re-route of his power system and teleported with Beast Boy. He reappeared twelve feet above the ground and immediately teleported away, leaving Beast Boy's frozen body to fall.

Raven flew over, grabbing Beast Boy's frozen body and keeping it from hitting the ground. Then Warp appeared behind her and slammed his metal-enclosed fist against the back of her head, dropping her with a cry.

"Got you!" Savior said as he Shimmer-pulled himself towards Peek-A-Boo as she re-appeared. He landed on her back as the Shimmer wrapped around her mouth, sealing it. Savior wound up another strand that would konk her on the head…

Only Peek-A-Boo made a muffled noise that sounded like "Peek-A-Boo" and then she and Savior were gone.

Though the other Titans didn't see it, they reappeared about 7000 feet above the bank. The teleportation had disoriented Savior, and he couldn't fight back when Peek-A-Boo shoved him away. Another yell of "Peek-A-Boo!" and Savior was blasted away from the leaving Rogue, plummeting downward in freefall as Peek-A-Boo returned to the bank. She re-appeared right beside Robin and Starfire, blowing them against a wall.

"Finish it Cold!" Warp said.

"My pleasure." Cold said, as he aimed at the two.

And then his gun was gone. He blinked, and then a gust of wind ruffled his hood. A gust that was way too strong to have come out of nowhere unless…

"Flash!" he cursed. "How do you always know where I am even when…" Cold said as he looked around, his voice trailing off.

It wasn't the Flash who had run into the bank and snatched away Cold's gun at super-speed. Instead, it was a teenager in a red and white outfit and crazy hair that assumed a semi-bowl shape on top of his head. He was grinning widely as he twirled the gun on one finger.

"Sorry Snart! Wally's busy! But perhaps I can entertain you?" the teenager said.

"IMPULSE!" Robin said.

"That's my name!" Impulse said, suddenly right next to Robin. Then he was on the other end, handing Robin the freeze gun. "Don't wear it out!"

* * *

Savior frantically tried to whip together a shape that would slow his descent, but making a working helicopter blade was a lot harder then it looked.

"Ok, maybe I'll try a parachute…"

* * *

Peek-A-Boo felt worried. She had been coerced into doing this with the promise of getting enough money to disappear and start a new life. That had seemed like a good enough reason to return to crime. But now that Impulse, a child-speedster who was pretty much everything the Flash was in a smaller package, had shown up, she was beginning to have doubts.

Fortunately, he seemed to be paying attention to Warp. The two still standing Titans…wait wasn't there three?

And then the desk crushed Peek-A-Boo up against the wall. Raven had thrown it carefully enough to not break any bones, but it still hurt like hell.

Cold had gotten another freeze gun from his parka and was firing at Robin, who was jumping around like a maniac and throwing explosive discs to mess up his aim. Starfire was thawing out Beast Boy. And Cyborg was…

Still frozen, and Raven had an idea to kill two birds with one stone.

"Azarath…Metrion…" Raven said, as Cyborg's iced body floated up as Robin pole-vaulted away from Cold via his staff. "ZINTHOS!"

And she threw Cyborg's iced body at him. It would serve two purposes: knock Cold out and free Cyborg.

Or at least it would have if Cold hadn't ducked. Cyborg flew over his head. Raven heard something break as he hit the wall.

"OOPS." She said, and then she ducked herself as Cold fired at her. She melted back into the shadows before Cold turned her into a statue she would have to be melted out of.

Having been freed, Beast Boy became a gorilla and lunged at Warp, who was occupied with Impulse. No matter where he went, Impulse was standing on front of him.

Beast Boy's powerful fists slammed into Warp, and he found himself being thrown forward. Enough: the job had gone bad. He had to retreat, and he did, warping away and outside.

Only to find Impulse standing in front of him again. The teenager waved.

Savior, meanwhile, was ruining the side of a skyscraper as he grabbed the edge as he fell past it and dug a Shimmer-hook in. The hook ripped into the concrete and was yanked down as the special energy cord ate away the momentum Savior had accumulated via the fall. He finally stopped about thirty feet away from the ground. Sighing with relief, he snapped out another strand and headed back to the bank.

Cold jumped away from a Starbolt barrage and fired his gun at Starfire, who dodged. Beast Boy charged at him as a rhino, but was forced to turn into a mouse when Cold recovered quicker then he expected and fired at him.

"You children can't win! I'll put you all on ice!" Cold yelled.

"Aren't you a little old for snappy banter?" came a voice behind him.

Cold turned around just as Cyborg swung, punching out Cold's lights and knocking him across the bank. He hit the ground, moaned, and was still.

"Very nice." Raven said as she appeared out of the shadows.

"Yeah, maybe not as nice as you USING ME AS A FREAKING PROJECTILE! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Cyborg yelled.

"I just wanted to get the ice off you." Raven said.

"What if I had broken into pieces?"

"That was a risk I was willing to take." Raven replied.

"Where is Savior?" Starfire asked.

Warp growled as he teleported again. Once again Impulse was there when he reappeared. He gave Warp a raspberry.

Warp teleported again. Same result.

"You seem smart enough not to take a swing at me. Are you smart enough to give up? You'll never get away from me." Impulse said.

"We'll see!" Warp said as he activated the suit again.

As soon as Warp started to teleport, a blazing streak of red took off…in the OPPOSITE direction. In a nanosecond it was out of Jump City. Several nanoseconds later it was blasting across the Pacific Ocean. Warp started to re-appear as it left France. As the man fully re-appeared it finished crossing the Atlantic.

"YES! I know I could outrun you!" Warp crowed.

"Wrong."

Stunned, Warp turned around as Impulse appeared in front of him, the ground behind him scorched from the run.

"I followed you even taking the LONG route."

Warp gaped as he realized that in the second he had taken to teleport several hundred feet Impulse had run around THE ENTIRE WORLD. In desperation, he took a swing at Impulse.

Impulse didn't just dodge, he slapped Warp 52 times before he felt the first blow, and then ran up the nearest wall and jumped on Warp's head. No sooner had Warp's body registered the impact when Impulse jumped off, ran around to Warp's front, and as he started to fall down, did a flipping kick that knocked Warp backwards into the wall. That was all she wrote for him.

The Titans had become looking around for Savior when Peek-A-Boo managed to push the desk off her. She was amazed her talent hadn't activated: it sometimes did when she was struck by something.

She saw Cold was down. That was it. She was out of here.

"Hey it's…!" Beast Boy said.

"Peek-A-Boo!"

Peek-A-Boo teleported out of the bank and onto a roof a block away. She stopped, taking deep breaths. She wasn't used to using her talent so much, and it was…

"I see you."

Peek-A-Boo turned around to see Savior. He snapped back his arm to throw the Shimmer.

"PEEK-A…!"

WHACK! A blow to the face took down Peek-A-Boo. Except it wasn't the Shimmer that struck her, it was Impulse's fist. He had run over to the building, up the wall, and over the roof, and knocked out Peek-A-Boo before Savior could.

"Too slow!" he said, giving Savior a thumbs up.

Savior just lowered the Shimmer and shook his head good-naturedly.

"Thanks for the aid Impulse, though we could have handled it. But just why are you in Jump City…?" Robin said, as the Titans watched the police put the bested supervillians in the specially prepared paddy wagon and cart them back to prison.

"Just passing by. There's only so much world out there when you're as fast as I am." Impulse said.

"Reporters at 2 o'clock." Beast Boy said.

"What? That's not for three hours Beast Boy…" Starfire said.

"Are we actually going to speak to those idiots?" Raven asked.

"Well, it kills the time…" Robin said.

"Besides, after dealing with those three, I'd say we're out of the woods for today!" Cyborg said happily.

And then the streets were suddenly filled with a loud bellowing roar that seemed to shake the streets.

Impulse glared at Cyborg.

"If you ever say that cliché again, I will kill you before you can blink."

"What the hell…" Robin said.

And then a building a few doors down and across from the bank suddenly exploded outward as SOMETHING crashed out through the front with so much force the whole front of the building collapsed.

"WHOA!"

"Never a dull moment!" Beast Boy said as debris pelted the group.

The reporters stopped heading towards the Titans and Impulse, and then with the unique brand of stupidity the media always has, turned and headed for the dusty…thing that had come out of the building.

"What is going on Robin?" Starfire was asking, trying to clear her eyes from the stinging dust.

Screams started coming from the area that the reporters had run towards.

"I don't know, but we'll find out! Titans, GO!" Robin said, as he pulled out his staff.

The dust cleared then.

"Holy…!"

The creature that had smashed through the building was roughly the size of a dump truck. It crouched on well-muscled, catlike legs, despite it having a reptilian body structure and scale-like skin that looked more like armour. It had a long, crocodile-like mouth that came from a head that had no eyes. A three-pronged split tail whipped from it's back, smashing into the street so hard it shattered. Strange fleshy appendages sprouted from it's back, but they had no definite shape or apparent use. The creature was mostly reddish in colour with a strange variety of other colours in various places (it's tail was nearly white, and the weird appendages on it's scaled and spiky back was pitch black) Its mouth was filled with cruel teeth, and four black fleshy extensions (its tongue?) had lanced out and grabbed the nearest people it could find. Unfortunately, the Titans were too late to save this group, even Impulse, as the creature yanked the screaming people into its mouth and chomped down. Blood spurted from between its teeth.

Several of the Titans were nearly sick at this display, but Robin's eyes went cold.

"Titans, GO!"

Raven picked up a few cars and threw it at the monster while Impulse dashed out, grabbing all the people he could and carrying them away from the creature. Beast Boy became a T-Rex and charged forward, planting his huge foot on the creature as he leaned down and ripped open its back with his teeth. But no sooner had Beast Boy ripped a chunk out of the creature than he recoiled and then half ran away, half fell down as he turned back into himself, gagging as black stuff foamed at his mouth. Savior snapped out a Shimmer blade and broke off one end of a fire hydrant. It sprayed Beast Boy, washing the foul stuff away.

"Jeez, that thing is ugly!" Cyborg said as he armed his sonic cannon and fired at the creature. It wailed as it was pummeled by the ultra-powered noise, and fleshy parts of its body exploded, throwing black gunk and yellow fluids onto the streets and nearby buildings.

Trying to keep her gorge from rising, Starfire flew up and unleashed several Starbolts onto the creature's front. More flesh and gunk exploded from the wounds, and the creature roared in pain. Showing insane speed, it swung around and smacked Cyborg with its tail. He flew…and then was caught by a returning Impulse.

The creature looked upward and snapped out its tongue-extensions, catching Starfire. She screamed as the creature began to drag her back towards its mouth.

Impulse was running as soon as he heard the scream, blasting up the nearest wall and leaping off, swinging his arm at super-speed and chopping the tongue off. He started to fall, as Starfire pulled off the tongue and caught him. Meanwhile, Robin had been in mid-grab at his utility belt when Impulse had saved his girlfriend, and his hand switched from the Birdarang to the explosives discs.

"You wanna eat something? EAT THIS!" Robin said, and threw the discs in the creature's mouth.

The front of the creature's jaw exploded, throwing flaming flesh around, and it wailed…and then made a noise of anger as the jaw suddenly grew back and sprouted more teeth. Its muscles suddenly bulged even larger, and the fleshy extensions broke open to reveal glistening black wings.

"Mental note: Heat makes it bigger." Robin cursed.

The creature opened its mouth and then fire suddenly belched forth. Robin leapt out of the way. A few seconds later Raven wrapped a metal lamp post around its mouth, sealing the snapping maw shut. Beast Boy turned into a triceratops and charged into the creature's side, using his huge horns to rip through the scaly armour. Black blood soaked his head, and he turned around and ran back into the fire hydrant stream. Savior lashed out a Shimmer blade and ripped the wound open more. What looked like organs were now pouring out of the hole. The creature ripped off the makeshift muzzle and wailed, and then charged. The Titans got out of the way, as Impulse zipped past it and grabbed every person that happened to be in its path as it rammed it's way into a hotel lobby and out the other end.

By the time the Titans caught up to it, the creature had found a grocery store and had broken into it. Messy noises were coming from the store, although, thankfully, no screams.

The police that had arrived to take the villains the Titans had stopped but a few minutes before had called backup, and the police and SWAT teams were now shooting the store with their firearms and whatever else they had. The creature barreled out, charging at the officers, and they scattered as it rammed into their cars and sent them flying. Its wounds had healed somewhat, perhaps as a result of all the food it had just eaten, but it was clear the creature was still hungry. It opened its mouth to grab some of the men and women…except a police car suddenly stopped in mid-air, encased in black energy, and then flew into its mouth. The creature gave a muffled roar and tried to get the car out as Savior swooped down and grabbed the police officers, pulling them away from the rampaging beast.

"Thanks for the aid officers. We'll take it from here! If you want to help, call STAR Labs!" Savior said as he put the cops down a few blocks away and bounded back to the monster.

Impulse was running around the creature to distract it, as Cyborg ran over and punched a nearby building so hard all the windows on the bottom ten floors shattered. Raven flew up, chanting, and the glass shards turned black and flew into the creature, impaling it with hundreds of makeshift knives. It wailed in pain. Black blood soaked the street.

Robin was about to throw a freeze disc at the monster when it flexed and then the glass shards suddenly exploded out of the monster like they had been fired out of a cannon. Robin threw himself behind a car a second before he would have been cut to ribbons, and the other Titans did their own dodging acts. Savior wasn't so lucky, as a shard caught his Shimmer strand and sent him falling down, screaming in pain. Impulse caught him just in time.

Hearing Savior scream, anger arose in Raven. Despite what had happened several weeks ago…

"AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!" she yelled as she pulled two telephone poles out of the ground and rammed them right though the creature's head. The creature screamed, more blood flew, and then it actually ripped itself free, though it lost one of its jaws in the process. A blast from Starfire blew the rest of the jaw off, and the creature screamed from the ruin that had been its mouth.

"We don't have time for anything else. Finish it Impulse." Robin said as he went over to check on Savior. Cyborg was blasting the wailing, writhing creature with his sonic cannon again, and more parts of it exploded messily.

"You got it." Impulse said as he got up. He lined himself up…and then he ran at the creature…and then shifting his molecules at super-speed, THROUGH the creature. He appeared out the other end and within 1/2789 of a second had grabbed all the nearby Titans and pulled them away to save them from what happened next.

The creature exploded, its molecules disrupted by Impulse's super speed trip through it. Flesh, guck, blood, and god knows what else splattered all over the streets and buildings.

"Wasted!" Cyborg whooped.

"Well, that was…interesting…" Raven said as she appeared out of the shadows. 'Now where did…"

"Look!" Starfire said, pointing from the sky.

A large chunk of creature flesh, one of the wings extending from it, suddenly split open. A new wing emerged, and then parts of the flesh sloughed off to reveal a yellowish-white creature that had a bony structure. The new one had two clawed arms and a body that ended in a spiky tail, no legs. It's head shifted, cracked, and then hardened as a mouth emerged from nothing. Still eyeless, and screaming, the new creature spread its wings and took off into the sky.

"Aw man! That think isn't content with just being a freak of nature, it has to be a BUNCH of aberrations!" Savior cursed as the pain from his cut Shimmer finally faded.

"Aberration…" Robin said. "Flying Titans, after it! We'll follow as soon as possible!"

Starfire and Raven took off after the monster, while Beast Boy became a pterodactyl and flew with them. Robin and Cyborg armed grappling hooks while Savior used the Shimmer and Impulse ran after the thing.

Flying up to the side of the newly named Aberration, Starfire unleashed a barrage of Starbolts against the creature. It shrieked and snapped one of its arms at Starfire, and several bony shards flew from the limb. Starfire shrieked and dodged frantically as the projectiles impaled themselves into the building behind them

Beast Boy flew at it, clawing at the creature's head, but his talons were thwarted by the creature's new bony armour. It turned around, showing surprising grace for a patchwork mutation that had gotten the ability to fly only a minute ago, and slashed at Beast Boy. He flew back and charged form, turning into the mystical griffin. He flew it, slashing and biting with his claws and teeth again as the creature tried to stab Beast Boy with his tail.

By now the landbound Titans were up on the rooftops near the creature and running alongside their flying companions. As Beast Boy pulled back from Aberration, Savior used a Shimmer-spring to throw himself off the roof, and then used twin Shimmer blade-strands to slash at Aberration. But the monster again showed surprising grace as it pumped its wings and flew over the slashing energy whips. Savior fell, catching a nearby lamp post and swinging himself back up, using the Shimmer to pull himself back up to the roofs.

Robin threw a Birdarang at the creature's wings, but he missed the frail membrane in them, instead hitting the hard bone exoskeleton the monster had grown. Aberration didn't like that, as it screamed and hurled bone spears at Robin and his running partner, Cyborg. One of them rammed through Cyborg's leg, and he yelled and stopped dead. Robin stopped and ran back to his teammate to check on him.

Raven floated up and threw several borrowed girders from a construction site at Aberration. The metal pieces bounced off the monster, staggering it and breaking chips of bone armour off. It shrieked and lanced at Raven, lashing its pointy tail at her, but she disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind the creature, picking up the girders she had just throw and using them over again, throwing them into the creature's back. More bone chipped off as it screamed

Impulse ran up to Robin as he finished pulling the bone spear out of Cyborg's leg.

"He ok?"

"Just hit metal! I'll be fine!" Cyborg growled as he re-routed his circuits so he would be able to stand on the leg.

"Impulse, I have an idea!" Robin said, seeing a building on the horizon. "Listen!"

As Robin explained his plan, Starfire flew in again and hit Aberration with several more Starbolts, and when the creature turned to fire at her she flew in close and rammed into the creature's head with her shoulder to throw him off. Savior leapt off the roofs again and this time connection with a Shimmer-mace that smashed the creature into the side of a building. It managed to stay in the air, however, throwing more bone spears at Savior. These missed, mostly because he was falling.

"Need a lift?" Beast Boy said as he flew in under Savior.

Impulse, meanwhile, had run over to the building Robin had indicated and managed to carry everyone to safety in the several seconds the previous acts had taken the Titans. Now he waited at the foot of the building.

Starfire was throwing more Starbolts when the creature came into position.

Impulse began running in a circle, creating a vortex. Aberration flew right into it, and that was all the other Titans needed. Beast Boy flew in as Savior propelled himself off Beast Boy's back and smashed the creature with another Shimmer-bludgeon. The creature staggered over the roof of the building, and then Beast Boy flew over it and turned himself into a brontosaurus. With a roar, he landed on it, crushing it under his immense weight and nearly caving the roof in as they both landed on the roof of the skyscaper. Blood splattered on Beast Boy's immense underside. He hopped off and turned himself back into his human form as Savior, Starfire, and Raven landed on the roof. A moment later Impulse joined them to look at the crushed creature.

"Think we got him?" Savior asked.

"It needed sustenance to increase its mass and heal its wounds. We have removed it from all sustenance. It should die soon if it isn't already dead." Raven said.

"I don't know. Like that book says, life finds ways…" Beast Boy said.

And then the tail of Aberration whipped at them. The Titans scattered as the creature moaned and began to grow larger, its bony body going soft.

"What the hell! You said it couldn't mutate unless it had stuff to eat!" Impulse said.

"It found something. Look." Beast Boy said as he watched the newly grown mouths under the creature devour the roof beneath it. Aberration had mutated so that it could eat stone and steel.

The Titans launched a new attack, but Aberration kept eating. The top floor of the tower caved in as Aberration ate away the supports, its body growing larger and larger as armour formed over its body and four stubby legs sprouted underneath it. The mouths underneath it closed up as a new head emerged from the side. Aberration had become like a turtle. A turtle roughly the size of three eighteen-wheelers, with six more stacked on top of those three, as it continued to eat.

"It must have evolved the shell after all the attacks we threw at it!" Savior said. "Impulse, run through it again!"

"OK-WHOOPS!" Impulse said as Aberration slammed one of its new legs down, causing the side of the building Impulse was on to break off and fall. Savior cursed and tried ramming and slicing the new shell of Aberration, but he wasn't making a dent.

Starfire threw more Starbolts, as they exploded along the shell. Aberration roared, as the shell began to vibrate.

The Titans noticed the many holes along the shell before they began spewing green energy blasts. Starbolts. The Titans scattered in shock as hundreds of blasts flew at them, exploding on the buildings around them.

"How is it doing my attack?" Starfire asked.

"He must be able to adapt itself to mimic whatever its been done to it. When Robin threw a grenade in its mouth during it's first form, it mutated to breath fire. Now, after all the Starbolts you threw at it, it figured out how to convert solar energy into its own bolts!" Savior said from his perch on a nearby building.

Robin and Cyborg finally arrived during the barrage. Cyborg armed his, er, arm, and prepared to fire when Robin slapped it down.

"No missiles! It likes heat, remember?"

Raven had picked up some wreckage and was throwing it at Aberration, but the shell was protecting it, even as it continued to eat the building, growing ever bigger.

Impulse ran back up the side, but Aberration had become so large he took up the whole roof, and Impulse had to retreat when the shell holes spewed, er, Ab-bolts at him.

"We need to get it off the building, if it keeps eating…" Robin said.

"It's gotten too big for us to move! How do we move it?" Cyborg said. He tried his sonic cannon. All it seemed to do was annoy Aberration.

"Only thing that might be able to move it is something…hey, I have an idea!" Savior said. Using the Shimmer as a spring, he threw himself over to where Beast Boy was circling.

"Hey Beast Boy, you can only mimic animals, right?" Savior said when he had landed on Beast Boy's griffin back.

"Yeah."

"Think you can mimic that?" Savior asked, pointing at the quasi-turtle form Aberration had become.

Beast Boy gulped.

"That's not a real animal! And I've never tried to become anything with so much mass! I could very well kill myself!"

"What are the odds?"

"YOU AREN'T THE ONE WHO HAS TO TRANSFORM!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Well, we're fresh out of ideas. I guess we'll have to call the Justice League…"

"I didn't say I wouldn't try. But if this goes bad…I'll definitely haunt you Noel!" Beast Boy said.

"What if I die here too?"

"Then I'll haunt your ghost! Now back off!" Beast Boy said, as he steeled himself for one of the greatest transformations he had ever tried.

Savior leapt off as Beast Boy circled around. Starfire and Raven were blasting and throwing things at Aberration, until Savior swung by and they backed off. Beast Boy took a deep breath as he lined himself up.

Here went nothing.

Beast Boy flew at the creature, and as he got close he closed his eyes and tried to force his body into the mental picture he had taken of Aberration, feeling his body bulge out and out and out as the strain became murderous…

And then Beast Boy rammed into Aberration with all the momentum he could muster in his huge new form.

Aberration screamed as he was titled up and then shoved off the building by his new twin, falling down to the street below as Beast Boy shrank down to a robin and put on the brakes, flying as the Titans cheered.

"YEAH! Can you FLY NOW, you piece of garbage!" Beast Boy yelled.

And then Aberration hit the streets. It was roughly the equivalent of a gigantic egg hitting the pavement, as Aberration literally exploded, blood spraying up so high it almost hit Beast Boy. The whole city shook from the impact.

"Yuck. Just yuck." Cyborg said as the spray of gore fell down again.

"Just as effective as what I was going to do, I guess." Impulse said as he appeared next to Robin.

The Titans made their way down to the giant mass of flesh that Aberration had become, strewn all over the streets. The Titans picked their way through the mess.

"If you find anything that still looks alive, don't attack it. Call me." Robin said, freeze discs at the ready. If Aberration had liked heat, he was pretty sure the opposite was true as well.

The Titans poked through the mess as the police made their return, as well as STAR Labs, an ambulance or two, and of course the media. The police managed to keep them at bay while the Titans searched.

It didn't end well, as Raven moved some ruined flesh aside to find a melted hole in the street leading to the sewer. Apparently some part of Aberration had survived and retreated.

"MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!" Savior cursed out loud. Starfire's eyes went wide, and Robin glared at Savior.

"What?"

"Um Savior, don't wear-say in front of the lueless-cay lien-aay who doesn't nderstand-uay how to use the ords-way roperly-pay." Beast Boy whispered.

"OOTAY ATELAY." Robin hissed.

"Great, it got away. Now what do we do?" Cyborg said.

"There are literally thousands of miles of tunnels down there. We could search for months and find nothing." Robin said.

"So what do we do?" Impulse said.

"WE, for the moment, will try and find out just where that creature came from." Robin said. "YOU can come along with us if you want Impulse."

"Thanks! I think I will!"

"The jackals are back." Raven commented as reporters continued to swarm into the area.

"We may as well talk to them now, or they'll follow us home." Robin said. Most of the group sweatdropped as Robin walked over to the police captain so he could call a press conference.

* * *

Still caught up in the adrenaline rush, Beast Boy didn't notice the very slight cut on his leg. It had come when, during his ram attack, a bit of him had been nipped off by a sharp part of Aberration's shell. When he had become human again, it had become a very small leg wound. But a small part of him had been lost.

Deep in the sewers, a mass of seething uncontrollable cells forever in change to ensure its survival managed to get a mind clear enough to realize what was stuck to it.

………..Food.

Find.

Eat.

Aberration thrashed until it had grown legs and skulked off into the sewers, in the hunt.

* * *

Great, now we have THIS thing after the Titans! But before that, the Titans may have to face something even deadlier: the mass media…. 


	14. Aberration: Facing The Masses

Chapter 14: Facing the Masses

"Where did this creature come from?" a reporter was asking Robin.

Robin sighed. He had hid it better, but the way his fellows had felt about dealing with the media was overwhelming him. He wondered what kind of person it took to try and compress the reality of a situation down into a ten-second sound byte.

"We do not know. It attacked us suddenly and without warning, but agents are going over its path in order to find out just where this Aberration creature came from…"

Everyone was screaming questions at him again. Robin winced at the noise.

"Robin, why did this creature decide to attack you?" another reporter was asking.

"We attacked IT first. It was eating people." Robin said, stating the answer like he was speaking to a child.

"MR. Robin." Said a particularly oily looking man. "The creature has escaped, and in the process of your failed capture you have caused millions of dollars in property damage, as well as having a few people killed. How do you respond to this?"

"What. Huh? I…?" Robin stammered, and then suddenly he was shoved away as Savior pushed him aside.

"Savior? What are you…?" Robin said before all the reporters started shouting again. All individual words were lost in a mass roar, a bay for blood, for stories that were not so much the truth as was the truth the public would like to believe.

Savior stared in disgust at the screaming reporters, and then he responded with his own yell. However, since the microphones amplified his voice, he managed to out-blast the reporters.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE!??!?!?!?"

The feedback slammed into the ears of the people around the podium, making them recoil. The reporters fell silent, but Savior was just getting started.

"We, through hard work and good fortune and sometimes through BAD fortune, have become greater then the average man. We try to use our talents for the common good of mankind. We put our lives on the line in service to you. It is our honor and our privilege and we gladly bear the burden and the curse of the life we have chosen, and yet YOU, you SCUM, DARE blame us for this! We saved hundreds of lives, and yet you harp on the few lives we could not save and the THINGS you built that we damaged in pursuit of the greater good. You blame us for not being omnipotent! WE ARE HUMANS! WE ARE NOT GODS! HOW DARE YOU! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!"

Savior's rant was cut off as Robin and Cyborg managed to drag him away from the mike, but the reporters had been whipped up even more and were now screaming all sorts of new questions.

"We are sorry, Savior nearly got eaten by Aberration and he's a bit upset." Beast Boy lied as he got over to the mike.

"SCUM! LIARS! BLOOD-SUCKING LEECHES!" Savior was still screaming. Starfire flew over to help control Savior's thrashing.

"Sorry Noel, we gotta do this." Robin whispered, and pinched a nerve on Savior's neck. The hero's rage was swallowed by darkness.

Some time later, Noel came to and found himself lying on the couch. He sat up, rubbing his neck, to find Robin, his mask off, sitting there on a nearby chair.

"Tim." Noel said.

"Hey Noel. Nice outburst. The media are having a field day, making all sorts of suggestions, exaggerations, half-truths, and outright lies. One suggested you and I were fighting over Kory and I did this to embarrass you! You just fed the fire, Noel." Tim said sadly.

"I knew I would, but it had to be said. I hate those vultures, so desperate for their "stories". Life would be so much better without them." Noel muttered, adjusting his jacket.

"It's not just that Noel." Tim said. "Over these past several weeks, I've noticed…not just I…you've just been so ANGRY." Tim said.

"Not really." Noel lied.

"Oh yes you have. Remember the rapist we caught a few weeks ago?"

Noel remember all too well. The police were chasing a suspect on foot, and the Titans, heading home after dealing with another problem, aided them. Noel had found the man first. He hadn't actually hurt him, but he had picked him up and started throwing him around with The Shimmer like a toy, catching him just before he would have hit a wall or the ground and throwing him again. He had played with the rapist for nearly five minutes before the Titans had found him, and by then the man had passed out with fear, having also wet his pants. When Robin had asked if that had really been necessary, Savior had replied "Yes" and tossed the sex offender in a dumpster.

"You try and keep it hidden, but it keeps coming out. We're a team Noel. What's wrong?"

"I'm PMSing. Nothing." Noel said.

"It's Raven, isn't it?"

Noel glared at Tim.

"Starfire told me about the little…"incident" on Valentine's Day, and her suggestion. From the way you two have been acting since then, well…I guess it didn't go well." Robin said. When they weren't dealing with something that involved cooperation, Noel and Raven had been doing their best to avoid each other. No more morning talks, no more shared tea, nothing. It was like it had been turned off like a switch.

Except such things could not just be turned off.

"I really don't want to be psychoanalyzed." Noel said.

"And I'm not qualified for that. But Noel, I can sense you have strong feelings for her, and it's carrying over into your work. Maybe…"

"No. I am not taking a break. I am not going away. I am not on drugs or drinking or anything like that Robin. I can handle Raven. Besides, I don't really think you can understand my pain."

"Try me."

"NO! Your situation is completely wrong! Look at you and Kory! You're surprising me in your restraint, but since you got together you've been fawning all over each other. Stolen kisses here, stealing off by yourselves there…it just makes me sick in a way I wish it didn't." Noel said.

"Noel…"

"Go away please. I want to be alone."

"Noel please…it's better to talk…"

"I don't WANT to talk. PLEASE leave me alone. I'll be fine. I can handle it. And I won't let it affect my work." Noel said, and fell silent.

Robin tried to start up a conversation again, but Noel ignored him.

In the end he left.

"YOU ARE CHEATING!" Victor roared.

"You're just mad because you suck." Impulse said. Victor was playing one controller, and Impulse was playing three. And all three of the cars he was using were making Victor's life miserable.

"You say that again and we'll see if you can outrun my fist!" Victor yelled.

"Most likely I can." Impulse replied, and then won the race. Victor lunged at him, but by the time his brain had finished making the command that would have started the motion Impulse was already out of the room, leaving only a wind gust in his wake.

A few seconds later he zipped into the room Robin had left Noel in to see how the new guy was. Noel was sitting, reading a book.

"Heyo! You're called Savior right? Man, isn't that…"

"Don't. Just please don't." Noel said.

"Whatcha reading? Oh, good book! The ending kicks!" Impulse said, as in a second he took the book away, read it, and gave it back to Noel before he realized it had left his hands. Noel looked at Impulse.

"Useful power you've got there."

"Indeed, well gotta go!" Impulse said and ran out of the room. Like his namesake, the second he felt an impulse to do something he did it.

Noel was left alone again, trying to read his book and stewing in his feelings and the way they hurt him.

Impulse found Robin at his computer.

"HEY!" he said as he dashed up to Robin's side. Robin almost brained him with his staff. Or the air where Impulse had been, anyway.

"Watch it!" Impulse chided. Robin smirked.

"Still as irreverent as ever, Bart."

"Hey, don't use my name Tim! There could be spies!" Impulse, aka Bart Allen, said as he covered Robin's mouth. "Now wacha doing?"

"The ever torturous task that is called checking my e-mail." Robin said.

"What's so bad about that?"

"Watch. Look at this. "Dear Robin! If you had your hands chopped off at the wrists and couldn't replace them with prosthetic hands, what would you replace them with?" What kind of a question is that?"

"Can I answer it?"

"Why?"

"Why not?" Impulse asked, and then in a second Robin was out of his chair and Impulse was in it.

"Dear writer! I must think of this for a minute! Ah, I know! One hand would definitely have…a bucket on it!" Impulse said/typed.

"A BUCKET?" Robin said.

"Yeah! That way I could always have…a bucket! For…dumping oatmeal on stuff…and washing my hair…or just dropping the occasional beats…and I could also sit on it when I got tired." Impulse said/typed. "And the other hand would definitely be…a bullhorn! That way everyone could always hear whatever important things I had to say!" Impulse said.

"Like what?" Robin asked.

"Uh…like…"I am still awesome!"…"Seriously!" That kinda stuff." Impulse suggested.

"Uh yeah…well it's original. I was expecting you to pick something like guitars and laser guns…" Robin said.

"Yeah I…aw man! Why didn't I pick guitars and laser guns?" Impulse said. Robin facevaulted.

"I mean, geez, bullhorn? Like having a bucket for a hand is gonna get you any chicks…what was I thinking…" Impulse said as he erased the email and wrote new stuff down. "Next one!"

"What does it say?"

"Robin, please tell us all how Batman is in bed…"

"DELETED!" Robin yelled, leaning over and pressing the appropriate button.

"Are they STILL on that kick?"

"As long as there is a Batman and Robin, it will always be there. What's next?"

"Here we go once again with the e-mail! Let us hope it will be from a female!" Impulse chanted, and called up the next one. "Aw man! Not from a female. Well, ok. "Dear Robin. Can you draw a dragon? I want to see your skills of an artist." Um…ok…"

"Delete it."

"No no let's answer it! We can draw a dragon! That's easy! Watch and learn! I make drawing FUN!" Impulse said as he zipped off and returned with some paper and a pencil.

"To begin, we draw an S. For a snake…or a dragon…er, whatever." Impulse said as he did what he had said. "Next, we draw a different S…and then for the head, put a top mark on a long V. Then we draw some legs…" Impulse said as he began drawing muscular legs on the S. "Throw in a couple of arms…and then…uh wait a minute…I think I need to start over. Thing doesn't look…natural." Impulse said, and got another piece of paper.

"Ok, starting again, same thing: S, more different S, close it up real good at the top for his head, and then, using CONSUMATE V's, give him teeth, spines, and angry eyebrows. And then you can add smoke or fire…and maybe some wings…if he's a wing-a-ling dragon…" Impulse said as he continued drawing. Robin sighed good-naturedly: Impulse was really getting into it. Maybe HE should have the email address.

"And you know, let's put one of those beefy arms back on him for good measure. That looks really good…coming out of the back of his neck there…" Impulse said as he drew the arm on the dragon. "Now all he needs is a name!"

"Don't look at me." Robin said.

"Ah, I know. "Trogdor the Burninator"! Oh yeah! Check out all his majesty!" Impulse said, brandishing his picture. "Where's the scanner?"

"I don't have one." Robin said.

"What? Oh well, we still have TROGDOR! So very magnificent!" Impulse said, as he finally got out of the chair. Robin got back in and deleted the e-mail.

Badly-played music suddenly came from the door, and Robin looked over. 

Impulse had found a keyboard and was playing it.

"What are you doing?"

"Trogdor deserves a song! Let's play!" Impulse said, and began singing. "TROGDOOOOOOOOR! TROGDOOOOOOOOOOOR! Trogdor was a man!" Impulse sang.

"I thought he was a dragon?" Robin said.

"Meh…he was…a dragon-man! Er…maybe he was just a dragon…but he was still TROGDOOOOOOOOR!" Impulse sang. "TROGDOOOOOOOR!"

"Go away Bart." Robin said.

"BURNINATING THE COUNTRYSIDE! BURNINATING THE PEASENTS!" Impulse sang as he zipped off, still playing the keyboard. "And then burninating all the people…and then all the COTTAGES! YEAH! ALL THE COTTAGES! AND THE TROGDAR COMES IN THE NIIIIIIGGGGGGGHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTT!"

Impulse finished the song, and the realized he had run into the lounge, stopped, and loudly sung the last line. Now Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire were staring at him like he had three heads.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh." Impulse said, and then took off.

"So tell me Impulse, Wonder Woman or Black Canary?" Beast Boy said. It was a little later and Impulse had returned to the lounge. Savior had come along a bit earlier and was reading a book again. Raven and Starfire were each doing something that the boys didn't know about. Robin was still at his email, making him the only male Titan missing.

"Do you ask that to EVERYONE?" Savior said.

"Pretty much!"

'Wonder Woman, definitely!" Impulse said, and made a gesture around his chest that indicated large breasts and chuckled like teenage boys did.

"You ARE aware that even if you DID get her in…well, an intimate way, she would probably crush you with her legs. She's nearly as strong as Superman." Savior commented.

"Aw man Noel, don't be such a wet blanket! We're just fooling around! Loosen up! It's ok for you to talk about these things! I mean, she does have great boobs! And what a great…" Beast Boy said.

Raven walked in.

"Strategy Alexander used at that battle! He really was a genius at war!" Beast Boy said, abruptly switching conversations topics. The men would have been confused had he just done it, but they knew damn well why he had. Raven didn't give them a glance as she walked past them and out.

"Yeah, she does a fair booty, but you know who REALLY has back?" Cyborg said, continuing the conversation. "Thunder of the Outsiders! Man, I'd love to tap that and just ride…"

Starfire walked in.

"A Shetland pony! I heard they have such a smooth back and they rarely bounce…" Cyborg switched. Starfire walked past them and left, busy with her own task.

"What do you like Noel?" Impulse asked.

_Dark, gothic, and…_"Actually I always found Asians exotic in my own way." Noel said, figuring he may as well start talking like them or they would keep bugging him. "Those eyes…plus, there's just something about a grown woman in a white schoolgirl outfit…call me a hentai if you will but no one screams quite like a Japanese…"

Raven walked into the room again.

"Kamikaze strategy! They would crash into boats in order to destroy them…man the Japanese are always strange in some way…" Savior said as Raven walked out again. "Guys, do we have to keep talking about this?"

"You have anything better to talk about?" Beast Boy said.

"What about Aberration? We still have no idea where it, he, she, whatever went, or just what the creature is capable of!"

"Yeah, that thing was a pain. I always hated things that healed." Impulse said, getting up. "I mean, it's annoying enough to fight a monster, but man if a monster isn't bad enough you have to fight one…" Impulse said.

Raven walked back in.

"WITH BREASTS THE SIZE OF WATERMELONS!" Impulse yelled.

Raven stopped dead.

All the other males stared at Impulse.

Impulse stood there for a second and then sweatdropped.

"Ooops, instead of switching from a sexual conversation to a normal one I switched a normal one to a sexual one." Impulse muttered.

Raven glared at Impulse, and seemed ready to say something when Robin walked in.

"Titans, Impulse, we have something."

Some time later, all the Titans and Impulse had gathered at the main computer. Batman's stern face regarded the group. He was a great source of info, but he damn sure made the others uncomfortable.

"I found out where that creature came from, as best I could." Batman said.

"What happened?" Robin asked.

"All we have at the moment is some eyewitness reports and the preliminary results from STAR Labs, but I'd say it tells what will turn out to be the correct tale." Batman said.

"Which is?" Beast Boy asked. Batman glared at him. Beast Boy looked sheepish and then turned into one.

"The building the creature you dubbed "Aberration" emerged from Tessla Labs, a new company. Apparently they had a little incident here this morning. It involved a scientist called Anton Hansen. From what I've gathered in the little time I've had, he suffered from depression, and I believe he may have also been a masochist…."

"Did we really need to know that?" Impulse said. Batman glared at him, but Impulse had already zipped away so he wouldn't catch Batman's gaze.

"Anton apparently was dumped last night by his girlfriend. From what I've heard, this caused him to become suicidal. But, I suspect, from the possibility he may have been a masochist, that simply jumping out the window wasn't enough. He went to work the next day, locked himself in his lab, and started injecting chemicals into himself."

"Like what?"

"We're not sure. I think even he didn't know. He just wanted to die. God knows what he stuck in his veins before he could no longer do it. But he didn't die. Instead he turned into…that."

"And broke out. And then we met him." Robin said.

"Aberration ate a good many of the employees before he broke out, which is why he grew so large. He apparently needs substance in order to survive, though as you saw, his ever changing nature can allow him to eat different things."

"What about the heat thing?"

"Haven't been fully explored yet. The STAR technicians, from what I've heard, are absolutely dumbfounded by what Anton's cells have become due to the chemical mixture he pumped into himself. Whatever it was, the cells are in constant mutation. Even if left docile. They're just so damaged they have to keep changing in order to survive, and it appears that nothing, at the moment, is beyond their capacity to become. The possibilities are extremely dangerous though."

Robin knew it. Aberration, if left unchecked, could very well mutate its cells into a lethal virus, or a super-intelligent creature that could do god knows what, or maybe it could grow so large if it mutated and found a proper food source that it could trample the city. The horrors were endless.

"What do you suggest Batman?" Robin asked.

"Find it. And destroy it. There's nothing left of the man. His identity has long since been erased from the seething mass his cells have become. He's nothing but a dangerous pile of possibilities now. I'll send more information as I get it. Feel free to ask for aid if it becomes necessary. Batman out." The Dark Knight said, and then he was gone.

"Nice guy." Cyborg said.

"Ok Titans, you heard him. We need to think of a plan. Everyone into the lounge. We'll brainstorm a course of action. You want to stay Impulse?"

"That thing tried to get me too you know."

"Ok then, then you go get food."

"WHAT? What am I, your caterer?"

"No, but you're also not a Titan. So there." Robin said, smirking.

"Rassar frassin…" Impulse cursed under his breath as he dashed out.

The group headed for the table they usually spoke at and sat down.

"Ok guys, what do we do?"

"Cold." Raven, Cyborg, and Savior all said at nearly the same time. They looked at each other, and then the men let Raven speak.

"It likes heat. Therefore it will most likely hate the cold. Cold slows stuff down. It kills cells or makes them go dormant. Therefore, I say we use those freezing discs you have, Robin, in order to defeat it."

"Providing we can find it. It could stay in the sewers for weeks." Cyborg said.

"Maybe we should send Speed-Boy down there. He could probably search all the territory in what, three minutes?" Beast Boy pointed out.

"Too risky. There's all sorts of pitfalls and rotten floors and all sorts of things that super speed can't protect your from. I wouldn't want to do that to Impulse." Robin said.

"Something I noticed…" Savior said. "After being hit with all the Starbolts Kory threw, the thing figured out how to make it's own. Its cells may be able to adapt whatever is damaging it into a weapon. I think that if we go hunting for it, we should bring firearms."

"Why?"

"If we have to fight it again, we may as well use normal means instead of our powers first. If we just use our powers, it could adapt to them and then we'd be up sh…er, a creek." Savior said.

"It's a good idea Noel, but I don't know if it's practical." Robin said.

"My skill in firearms are about as good as your ability to pick movies." Starfire said.

"Ah come on! Are we still on this? _Aliens_ was pretty good, wasn't it?"

"That was scary!" Starfire said.

"But in a good way!" Robin added.

"Can we discuss films later? We need to deal with Aberration." Raven said.

"You have any ideas Raven?" Savior asked. Robin was surprised to not hear a trace of bitterness in Savior's voice. _I'll give Noel one thing: he's all business when business is the issue._

"Not at the moment, but I was wondering…"

"Hey guys!" Impulse said as he suddenly appeared.

"Wow that WAS quick Impulse, even for…hey, where's our food?" Robin chided.

"Guys, be serious. I noticed something outside. A weird discoloration of the grass. I thought it looked weird, so I speed dug…someone melted a hole at the base of your tower."

"A hole? How big?"

Impulse made a shape about the size of a large beachball with his arms. The Titans looked at each other.

"It found us." Beast Boy said.

"Worse." Savior said. "It's in the Tower."

Uh oh. Well, in the next chapter, I will pay tribute to Aliens, and the Titans will find out just where their spot on the food chain is… 


	15. Aberration: Food Chain

Chapter 15: Food Chain

"Ok, first rule of thumb, don't panic. We need to be calm. Calm calm calm…" Robin said as he walked down the hallway.

"Robin you're stepping on my heels and knocking my boots off!" Starfire complained.

"We can always get more boots, come ON!" Robin said, as he pawed at his utility belt, trying to find the freeze discs.

The Titans were carefully looking around their tower after Impulse had shown them the melted hole. Cyborg had broken out a motion detector, and was using it to see if anything was heading towards the Titans. So far, nothing They hadn't even found any more melted holes. So the search continued.

At least until they found Beast Boy's room. A hole had been melted in the wall, and there wasn't any clothing left. The massive piles of laundry Beast Boy always had lying around were gone. Beast Boy was more puzzled then alarmed, at least until Robin pointed out that Beast Boy had been the last one to touch Aberration and hence it may have wanted to eat him first, and had eaten his clothes because they had his scent. Beast Boy's confusion turned to worry.

"Robin, let me run. I can check this whole building in two seconds." Impulse said.

"No Impulse. We have no idea what Aberration has turned into. He could be emitting poison gasses or acids or, hell, maybe even an anti-Speed Force field. We stay together. If we split up, we could be picked off."

"That reminds me Robin…I need to get something…" Savior said.

"Do it later!"

"But…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The sudden yell nearly made the Titans rip apart the nearest wall. All except for Cyborg, who was the one yelling. He was standing in the door of his room, looking horrified.

"What? Is he in there?" Robin said, running over.

"No! But it was! It ate my TV! And my DVD player!" Cyborg said, pointing at the two holes melted in the walls of his room and the place where his entertainment center once was.

"Guess it still likes electronics." Impulse said.

"My DVD player! I had a rental movie in that!" Cyborg wailed.

"Man, think of the late fees." Beast Boy said.

"Guys!" Savior yelled, getting his comrade's attention. "This isn't working! This creature came here because it wanted US for some reason. I say we make it come TO us."

"Like how?" Robin asked.

"You're the leader. You want to give us an idea?" Savior asked.

"Let's hear yours first Noel."

"Ok. Everyone back to the lounge! We seal up the doors and wait for Aberration to arrive, and then we kill it! Simple ideas are the best! Let's go! Raven, I need your teleportation powers to retrieve something, ok?"

"Uh, sure." Raven said. Savior stepped up to Raven and then darkness enveloped the two as they vanished into the shadows beneath them.

"Well Robin?" Cyborg asked.

"Let's listen to him for now." Robin said.

The group headed for the lounge, Impulse scouting ahead to make sure there were no ambushes. By the time they had arrived Raven and Savior were already there, with a large metal crate.

"See anything?" Savior asked.

"No. You?"

"No. Ok guys, lock and seal all the doors. We sit here and we wait. And we it arrives, we blow it away." Savior said.

"With what?"

"With THESE." Savior said, as he used the Shimmer to yank open the crate.

The Titans looked into the crate. Guns.

"Where did you get these?" Robin asked.

"Ordered them from the military. Your friend Oracle helped." Savior said as he withdrew a machine gun and cocked it.

"Why did you buy guns?"

"Remember how I suggested firearms in the meeting? Well, I had the idea that we may need them long before Aberration showed up. Looked like I guessed right." Savior said, as he pulled out an M16 heavy machinegun and handed it to Cyborg.

"Uh…" Cyborg said.

"You're the heaviest, you can handle the kick of that best. Just point it at whatever you want to die and pull the trigger." Savior said. "Ok Robin what do you wan…"

Savior looked back as Robin pulled an Ingram MAC out of the box, loaded it, and armed it within two seconds.

"You know how to fire a gun?"

"Batman taught me."

"WHAT? That's INSANE! He's BATMAN. He values the sanctity of human life above everything else! Why would he teach you how to use a gun? He HATES guns." Savior said incredulously.

"You're right. He does hate guns. But he doesn't FEAR them. And he feels that any weapon the scum of the night might use on us should be learned so that we can use it against them if it came to that. We even practiced throwing them." Robin said as he pulled a spare clip of ammo out and stuck it in his utility belt.

"Gimme gimme!" Beast Boy said.

"Ok here Gar." Savior said, handing Beast Boy a Colt 45.

Beast Boy looked unhappy.

"What?"

"That's it?"

"Beast Boy, you're really small. Unless you have the weight behind it you won't hit anything with heavier guns…" Savior trailed off, as Beast Boy had now turned into a big gorilla.

Beast Boy glared at Savior.

"You think your fingers in that form will suffice?" Savior asked.

Beast Boy ignored Savior, as he reached into the box and pulled out an MP5, and then another. His huge hands were actually quite dexterous.

"Man, you're channeling Grodd there Beast Boy." Impulse said.

"You want a gun Impulse?" Savior asked.

"Nah. Ain't my style."

"Ok then. Starfire, you say you can't use guns?"

"I have had warrior training on my home planet but even with that my knowledge of Earth firearms is very limited…" Starfire said.

"Ok Star. Use this." Savior said, handing her Beast Boy's discarded Colt. "Just aim and pull the trigger. Be careful, it won't just stay still in your hand, but you should be strong enough to control it."

Savior grabbed an AK-47 out of the box and began arming it for himself.

"Raven?" he asked.

"No thank you."

"Yeah, as long as you don't actually use your powers on the creature itself you should be ok." Savior said. "Cyborg, how's the doors?"

"All locked and sealed."

"Ok. Lock and Load." Savior said as he slammed a clip into his gun. "We wait here. When it shows up, we kill it. If we run out of ammo, we resort to our powers. That sound good Robin?"

"Sounds fine to me." Robin said.

Savior pushed the box out of the way, as well as the couch and a few other pieces of furniture. The Titans gathered in a group.

"Ok guys, here's my addition to the plan. When it comes for us, we shoot it until it's weakened, and then I freeze it with my discs. Sound good?" Robin asked.

"Fine."

"Great."

Starfire said something in her alien language.

"Anything yet Cyborg?"

"No movement heading this way." Cyborg said. He assumed that after eating Beast Boy's clothes and his electronics Aberration had gained more mass, and had set his motion detector to read anything larger then a dog.

"This is what I pull, right?" Starfire asked, showing Savior her gun, pointing at the trigger.

"Yes, and the things we call bullets come out of THAT." Savior said, pointing at the hole in the gun barrel.

"Hey guys, since we're not being attacked yet, shouldn't we make a back up plan? Just in case Plan A fails?" Beast Boy said.

"Good idea Gar. I just recalled something. Impulse, come over here…" Robin said. He hadn't even finished speaking and Impulse was in front of him. "Listen. I…"

"Movement! I have movement!" Cyborg said, looking at a monitor on his arm.

"Damn, Here we go." Savior said.

"Man, this is a big signal…it's about twenty meters away and closing fast…" Cyborg said.

Robin was saying something to Impulse, but none of the Titans were paying attention, as they were looking at one of the doors into the lounge. Cyborg had indicated that was the way the signal was approaching, and they were ready.

"How did you learn how to use guns Savior?" Cyborg asked.

"My father. How far?"

"12 meters."

"Ok that's right outside the door get ready! It may come through the wall!" Savior said, aiming. "And those who know how to use guns, try and use short, controlled bursts. Those who don't, well, just pull the trigger." Savior said.

The Titans spread out so that they wouldn't shoot each other, aiming their guns. Raven had some objects ready to throw.

"10 meters!" Cyborg said.

"Here we go." Robin said, and aimed.

But nothing happened. The door didn't crash open. A hole didn't melt in the wall. The room was deathly quiet.

"8 meters…7!" Cyborg said.

"Is that thing working right?" Savior said.

"Yeah it is! My gear is always in top shape! Six meters!"

"That can't be. That's inside the room." Savior said.

"Hey my meter doesn't lie! Look!" Cyborg said, waving his arm in Savior's face. "Five meters!"

"Wait…" Savior said, looking up. "Of course, THE CEILING!"

Savior aimed upward and opened fire, the quiet room suddenly filling with racket. Robin and Beast Boy joined in, while Cyborg tried to get his gun up and Starfire covered her ears from the noise.

"Wait wait STOP! WAIT!" Robin yelled. The other two stopped firing.

"Two meters." Cyborg commented.

"No blood, no screaming…it ain't in the ceiling." Robin said.

"What? But if it's not in the ceiling and not in the room then where…" Savior said.

And then the floor erupted at Savior's feet as long, spindly red arm with cruel claws erupted from the ground and grabbed at Savior's legs.

"AH! ARGH! MOTHERFUCKER!" Savior screamed, opening firing at his feet. Aberration screamed, but kept pulling as red tendrils shot up from the hole and wrapped around Noel.

"SAVIOR!" Robin yelled, as he dropped his gun and ran over, grabbing at Noel. Cyborg dropped his own gun and headed over himself, even as Noel continued to fire into the seething mass of flesh that was trying to pull him under, his white clothes being splattered with black blood.

"FUCK! FUCK YOU!" Savior yelled. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A tendril lashed out, whacking Robin across the face, and he lost his grip as the seething mass pulled Savior into the floor, his scream fading.

"NOEL!" Robin yelled.

"Oh no. NO!" Raven said, horrified.

The floor erupted again as Aberration ripped his way through it. Aberration had turned into a long, bony creature with lines of writhing flesh lashing from his back. The long, banana shaped, eyeless head ended in a mouth filled with sharp teeth, and nasty claws were at the end of its spindly arms and legs. Finally, a pointed tail lashed around, gorging holes in the floor. It was at least fifteen feet long.

"Aw man, lines and situation wasn't enough, the author had to go and rip off the creature design as well!" Impulse said.

Aberration lashed out, but he missed Impulse by the proverbial mile. Instead, its long deadly tail ripped along a wall, causing it to collapse.

"Aw man, that's the forth wall this week!" Beast Boy said.

"Look…oh no, oh no…" Starfire said, her hands going to her mouth in horror. From Aberration's fanged maw tangled the shredded remains of Noel's leather jacket.

"It…ATE him." Cyborg said.

"NO! YOU BASTARD!" Raven suddenly screamed, as she hurled pieces of furniture at Aberration. The creature wailed and turned towards Raven, opening its mouth. The torn pieces of clothing fell as the creature suddenly sprayed liquid from its maw. Raven vanished into the shadows and the liquid sprayed on the wall. It began to melt, making a loud sizzling noise.

"Acid spitting this time." Robin said, pulling at his belt for his freeze discs.

Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire finally got their bearings and began firing at Aberration. The monster screamed as bullets ripped through it, and black blood rained down on the floor, soaking the carpet.

Raven reappeared and shattered a nearby window, throwing the glass shards into the creature's head. It screamed as pieces of it was sliced off.

"Keep it up guys! I got-AHHHHH!" Robin yelled as the tail lashed out and whacked him, the freeze discs in his hands flying out and hitting the walls, coating it in ice.

"Dammit!" Cyborg said, and fired another burst into Aberration. More blood soaked the ground.

Impulse ran around, not sure what to do. If he ran through Aberration again, such a close quarters explosion could cause the group to get sprayed with whatever foul substances was in the mutation's body. He had run up and hit the creature a few times, but the mutation had seemed to shrug off the blows.

"Impulse!" Robin said. Impulse ran over to Robin.

"I wasn't careful enough and I just lost most of my freeze discs. We better put Plan B into effect. Go!"

"But…"

"JUST GO! We'll be ok! I hope…" Robin said.

Impulse hesitated, and then he was gone, running out of the room, opening, closing, and relocking the door so quickly it looked to the naked eye like it hadn't moved at all. In .000012 of a second he was out of the Tower and running away, heading for a certain destination.

Starfire's gun finally ran dry, and she looked at it in confusion.

"I guess it does not want to harm the monster any more. I did not much like it anyway." Starfire said, and dropped it. She charged up twin Starbolts and threw at Aberration, blowing more pieces off its body. The creature screamed. She hated that scream.

Beast Boy ran out of firepower as well. He dropped the guns and turned into a rhinoceros, ramming into Aberation's side and smashing it through a wall before his horn ripped a good chunk out of its side. Now they were in the training room. The creature spat at Beast Boy, but he turned into a cat and dodged the spraying acid.

Cyborg followed, firing the last of his bullets into the badly wounded creature. The creature screamed again, as more black blood rained down on the floor.

And started sizzling. Cyborg's eyes widened.

"Aw crap. Now it's blood is turning acidic too!"

"You're surprised?" Beast Boy said.

"Not really."

Robin leapt into the room, using a Birdarang to shear more of Aberration's body off. The creature yelled and charged, and the males scattered as its claws ripped huge swaths out of the wall. Starfire flew it and blew it across the room with two more Starbolts, and then Raven flew it with the fridge floating behind her.

"You'll pay for what you did to Noel." She hissed, and threw the fridge, ramming it into the creature. She continued to push, shoving the creature across the room and…

"NO RAVEN THAT'S WHERE THE…!" Robin yelled.

The creature rammed against the wall, its now acidic blood spraying out across the wall…

"SAUNA IS!"

Pipes in the wall suddenly exploded as the acid breached it, and Aberration was bombarded by steam. It wailed, but this time it wasn't in pain.

"Noel said it best. Another trucking skit." Starfire said.

"Maybe that sauna wasn't the best idea…" Robin said, as the pipes that had kept the room hot had now allowed Aberration to get one of its favorite things: heat.

And it showed, as Aberration's legs suddenly split open, turning from four to eight to eleven as its rear ended bulged out and grew fat. Its head narrowed and flattened into its body, and a new maw of razor teeth opened, of all places, on its back. Aberration had become a spider-like creature.

It hissed at them.

Raven smiled coldly, and then stepped aside as all the knives she had gotten from the kitchen flew from the hole the Titans had come into the room with, and into Aberration's body. It started screaming in pain again.

Aberration swiped at the Titans with its long, sharpened legs, and they scattered. Cyborg armed his sonic cannon and fired even as Starfire threw more Starbolts. The creature was torn open more, and it screamed. However, it seemed to have lost its acidic blood. That was one small favour its new mutation had granted.

But Aberration had new, nastier tricks, as it spun around. Due to its spider-like form, Robin had expected some kind of web attack. Instead, Aberration fired, of all things, bony knives out of its rear (now there was an idea he didn't want to ponder in terms of whatever inspired it). Robin ducked as the wall behind him got riddled.

"Now THAT'S bad diarrhea." Beast Boy said, wondering what form he should choose, as Raven grabbed the weights from the floor of the training room and threw them at Aberration, and then ripped a punching bag out of the ceiling and threw that at Aberration as well. Aberration swiped at Raven with a leg, but she dodged by disappearing into the shadows.

Suddenly, Aberration made an abrupt turn away from the Titans, looking at a bare wall.

"What the…" Robin said.

Aberration opened the mouth that had been in its proper head.

And then Raven appeared out of the shadows, right where Aberration was facing. Her eyes went wide in horror.

Somehow it had known.

And it stuck, as a glob of what looked like flesh and yet somewhat like spider webbing shot out of its mouth and struck Raven. She didn't even get a chance to scream as the gunk wrapped around her and yanked her back.

"NO!" Robin yelled, but his leap to save Raven was foiled as one of Aberration's legs whacked him into a wall. Aberration drew the Raven bundle in and swallowed it, Raven disappearing into its maw just as Savior had.

"NO! STOP ITTTTTTTTT!" Starfire screamed, barraging Aberration with Starbolts. Cyborg roared his own rage as he picked up a chunk of wall and threw it at Aberration, and Beast Boy turned into a Utahraptor, a larger relative of the velociraptor, and leapt into Aberration's back, snarling and ripping into the creature with the long claws on his feet, being careful to avoid the gaping Sarlacc-like mouth that had opened on Aberration's back when it had mutated from the heat. Aberration screamed, twisting to try and get Beast Boy off its back. Beast Boy leapt off and turned into a T-Rex, grabbing one of Aberration's spider legs and ripping it off in a spray of gore. Starfire blew two more off with Starbolts, and Cyborg leapt and landed on the creature's head with all the momentum he could muster, driving it to its metaphorical knees.

Robin then struck, throwing the last two freeze discs he had. They exploded on the creature and it was swiftly covered in ice.

Robin landed, as the other Titans went over to him.

"Shall we shatter it?" Cyborg said.

"No, Raven and Savior might still be alive…" Robin said, not wanting to think of the alternative.

With a scream, the ice shattered, and Aberration lashed out with a leg, knocking the Titans away like rag dolls. Robin flipped, bounced off the wall, and landed on his feet.

"Damn, not enough ice!" Robin cursed.

"What do we do now?" Beast Boy said.

Robin pulled out twin Birdarangs.

"Rip it into so many pieces it can't grow back!" Robin yelled, and threw the Birdarangs at Aberration. It tore through the body, and the creature shrieked and spat another line of flesh-webbing at Robin. Robin leapt away, using his fighting staff as a pole vault. Aberration shrieked and charged at Robin, and Robin pulled out his grappling hook and fired it, swinging away…

Until Aberration somehow spat another dagger of bone out of its body. Looking back, Cyborg and Beast Boy really had no idea where the projectile had been fired from or HOW it had been fired, but with Aberration's constant mutating nature, how it did anything was a question.

But it fired it, and its aim was true as it sliced through Robin's line and sent him falling.

"ROBIN!" Starfire yelled, flying to help her love. But Aberration got her with one of its legs again, and she was smacked aside, the limb pinning her to the wall as Robin fell…

Right onto the mouth on Aberration's back. His yell of shock and horror was swallowed much like Robin was, disappearing into Aberration.

"It's just picking us off one by one…" Beast Boy whispered, not sure what to do.

And then Starfire's scream filled the room as she grabbed Aberration's leg and ripped it off, freeing herself from its grip. The creature stumbled as it suddenly lost a limb.

Starfire screamed something Beast Boy and Cyborg couldn't make out (later explained to be in her native language) and raised her hands above her head, forming a huge Starbolt the size of a car.

"Oh matriarch fornicating feces." Beast Boy said.

Starfire threw the bolt.

Aberration screamed.

And then it exploded as the bolt struck it, blowing flesh everywhere. The entire room was covered in flesh and blood (which was now green for some reason). Starfire lowered, breathing heavily as rage still coursed through her.

The smoke cleared, revealing a massive mound of flesh that had one leg sticking out of it and not much else to identify it as the body Aberration had had a moment ago. Starfire had blasted it into nothing more then a massive mound of tissue.

"Great. Now what do we do?" Cyborg said.

"What did Robin say earlier…" Beast Boy said.

Something stirred from the mound, and the remaining Titans tensed.

Part of the body slid off the mound and onto the floor. Gurgling, it grew upward, and eventually stopped at six feet as it grew arms and legs.

"It's…humanoid." Beast Boy said.

The flesh had indeed formed into a human-like shape, including hands and head. However, it was creepily featureless, if someone had made a human out of clay. Still, even without a face, it seemed to be looking at the Titans.

Then it raised its hands.

And then ropes of flesh shot out of its palms at the Titans. They scattered as the ropes shot past them slamming into the wall behind them.

Beast Boy turned into a monkey and leapt away as the ropes lashed at him and his comrades, tearing along the walls and floor.

"That's…the Shimmer!" Beast Boy said.

"Dammit! The bastard couldn't just eat Noel, it had to steal his powers!" Cyborg cursed, trying to get his heavy body out of the way of the ropes.

Starfire flew in, still angry, and fired a Starbolt. The creature showed amazing agility as it flipped to the side, dodging. Starfire fired more Starbolts, but Aberration dodged every one.

And Starfire realized why, as she recognized the dodging moves. They were Robin's.

Aberration lanced his Flesh-Shimmers (Flimmers?) at Starfire and she went into her own dodging moves.

At least until the floating fridge slammed into her, throwing her against a wall. Raven's powers.

"This is bad. But I'll do it anyway!" Cyborg said as he charged at Aberration.

The Flimmer lashed out, smashing him aside. A second later, Beast Boy leapt at Aberration in the form of a tiger. Aberration grabbed him and threw him over him easily. Beast Boy landed and rolled, groaning.

"How…can…"

And then he saw something. A line of red running along the ground. No, not just a line, a tendril of flesh.

Starfire was attacking again, and Aberration was busy defending itself as Beast Boy's eyes followed the line. One end went into Aberration's ankle, and the other went into the mass of discarded flesh that had once composed Aberration's spider body.

Later, Beast Boy would wonder why he didn't just cut the line immediately, but he was curious, and with a sudden hunch he couldn't ignore, he turned into a pig and walked over to the mass of flesh, sniffing.

Yes. Despite Aberration's terrible, overpowering stench, there was a familiar undertone of scents. Scents his friends possessed. Beast Boy turned back into the tiger and began clawing at the discarded flesh.

He found what he had suspected several seconds later.

"Yes!" he said as he found the pods. They were an ugly grey colour and had been hidden in the discarded flesh, and within them, floating in liquid, were the Titans Aberration had eaten. When Starfire had blown his body apart Aberration had been unable to create a new form that could carry the pods, but his new form remained connected to them, allowing him to use their powers.

Well, no more, as Beast Boy tried to rip open the pod that contained Savior.

To his surprise, the pod's outer layer was a lot tougher then it looked. No wonder Savior and the others had been unharmed after they had been eaten, even after all the damage the Titans had inflicted on Aberration.

Cyborg's yelling interrupted Beast Boy's efforts to free his comrades, and he looked up to see Aberration holding Cyborg over him with his Flimmers, trying to rip him apart. Growling, Beast Boy forgot about the pods and did what he should have done immediately: he leapt and brought his claws down on the tendril that connected Aberration to the pods.

It severed, as Aberration screamed. His body suddenly went into what looked like an epileptic fit, as he dropped Cyborg. Cyborg landed, smirked, and then hit Aberration in the "face" as hard as he could, throwing the shrieking mutation backwards.

"Guys, they're here! Help me get them out!" Beast Boy said as he ran back to the pods. He tried again and found the coating much softer: Aha! They were only tough if they were still connected to Aberration! He tore the first one open and Savior said up, gasping and clawing at his eyes.

Starfire was there, ripping open the pod that contained Robin. He had no sooner taken his first breath then she had crushed him in a hug.

"AH, KORY! AIR!"

Beast Boy ripped open the last pod, helping Raven out as she gasped and spat.

"Am I not dead?" she asked.

"Guess not. Guess Aberration couldn't start digesting you properly until we stopped hitting it. Or something. Who cares, as long as you're alright?" Beast Boy said.

"What about Aberration? Where is it?" Savior asked, getting unsteadily to his feet.

"Over there. I think severing its connection to you broke its brain though." Beast Boy said, gesturing to where Aberration was thrashing and screaming.

"Got any more Freeze discs Robin?" Savior asked.

"No I…oh no." Robin said, as he looked at his utility belt and saw that it had become to smoke.

"What's happening?" Starfire said in horror.

"Damn, something in that liquid must have caused a malfunction or something…OH SHIT!" Robin said. "My explosives have been damaged!"

"Get rid of it!" Beast Boy said, as Robin clawed at his belt, finally getting it off. Savior grabbed it in the Shimmer and threw it into the lounge where the battle had begun.

"Ok now…"

"RUN!" Robin said, as he grabbed Starfire's hand and began running. "It's gonna be big!"

"But what about…!"

"RUN!" Robin yelled as he ran out through the nearest door. The Titans followed him.

They were a bit shocked when he jumped out the nearest window, but they followed him away, making their way down to the ground.

"Damn Tim, how many explosives do you keep on that belt anyway?" Cyborg asked.

Every window on the floor they had just escaped suddenly exploded outward in flames as a giant boom rocked the Titans.

"Too many." Robin said grimly.

The explosion quickly faded, replaced by a triumphant roar.

"I think we just gave Aberration the equivalent of a ten course meal."

A huge mass of flesh flew out of the windows, landing in front of the Titans as it grew clawed legs, even as the mass of the creature continued to increase. Within seconds it was half as tall as the tower. The Titans backed up as wings, arms, and heads sprouted in the mass.

After a few more seconds it was over. Aberration, now a five headed dragon creature, roared in triumph and looked at the Titans.

"Got any new plans Savior?" Robin asked.

"Yeah. Kill this thing any way we can." Savior said.

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled, and the Titans charged.

Aberration roared, reared back its heads, and…

The blue beam flew past the Titans, stopping them dead in their tracks in surprise. It struck Aberration, and the creature roared.

Ice began forming on the monster, and the Titans watched in surprise as it spread swiftly over it. Aberration could only roar in rage and surprise before it was completely covered and sheathed in ice.

The Titans looked at each other.

"On three." Robin said. "One, two…"

"HASTA LA VISTA, BABY." All the Titans (except Starfire) said, and attacked the creature with whatever they had. The monster shattered into a million ice shards, falling into a heap.

The blue beam shot past the Titans again, freezing all the pieces into one big block. Finally, the Titans turned to see who had shot the beam.

Impulse stood there, arms crossed and grinning, as Captain Cold lowered his freeze gun, looking satisfied with himself.

"You children never could do anything right." He said, and sheathed his freeze gun.

"How you managed without me as well is something I'd like to know." Impulse said, grinning.

"Took you long enough." Robin said to Impulse.

"Hey, it only took me a second to get where I needed! But when it comes to trying to convince the law to let a recently caught criminal out, even if it is to aid a group of heroes, even I can't speed things up!" Impulse said. He looked at Savior. "Well, looks like you recovered well from being eaten!"

"Shaddup." Savior said.

"STAR Labs is on the way. They'll take the frozen pieces of that creature into their care and find a way to either save the man who became this thing or destroy it for good." Impulse said.

"Poor fool. I wonder if this is what he wanted in life." Cyborg said.

"I wonder if he would have preferred this to what he was." Savior muttered in a cynical tone. "Is everyone alright?"

"I seem ok." Robin said.

"I don't need anything except a new outfit." Raven said, pulling her grime-coated cloak off her shoulders and tossing it aside.

"Man, hard to believe you would help us, Cold! You ain't such a bad guy after all!" Beast Boy said.

"Don't be stupid, child! I didn't do this for you! I did this for me, and since I carried out my end of the bargain, I expect you to do so as well!" Cold said to Impulse.

"Yeah yeah yeah." Impulse said as he pulled out a cell phone. "Hello Wally? You're not gonna believe this…"

"Sheesh, you ARE fast." Cyborg said as he looked around the lounge. Impulse had helped the Titans clean up the mess Aberration had made, and with the super-quick youngster helping them, they had literally been done within minutes. True, there were still a bunch of holes in the walls and floor, but at least everything was clean and back the way it was. All of Aberration's discarded "bits" had been taken beforehand by STAR Labs.

"Not a problem! But enough of boring chores! I'd rather have some action!" Impulse said.

"We've had enough action for today." Robin said.

"Well, too bad! Like I said, to get Cold to help us, I had to offer him a favour, and to make sure it doesn't turn against me, I figure I'll ask YOU guys for a favour."

"Which is?" Raven asked.

Impulse told him.

"Well that sounds reasonable. Is everyone in?" Robin said.

"Sorry guys, I have to decline." Savior said. "I have something to do tonight. But I'm sure that you can handle it. And I'll still owe you Impulse." 

"Well…is it important?" Robin said.

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"It's…personal."

"Eh, ok, fair enough. Well we better get going Impulse, we don't want to miss this…"

A blazing streak of red zapped back and forth from the T-Tower, carrying the Titans one by one to a certain, far away location.

Savior swung off via the Shimmer, heading into the city.

And on a far-away plain, Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, stood in anticipation. He hated the fact that he had aided the children who had ruined his robbery, but it was worth it. Because in exchange for that little annoyance, he was finally going to rid the world of the thorn in his side, the man who had plagued him for years on end.

Finally, on this day, the Flash would die.

It wasn't the best part of town that he walked through, but he didn't care. This kind of place produced a certain kind of people, and he needed one. He couldn't take it any longer.

Many of the women he passed tried to cajole him, but he ignored them. He needed a certain kind.

And he soon found one, standing and talking with a redhead. The redhead's eyebrows didn't match her hair, which spoke volumes on the possibility of her being a natural. But he didn't care about her. What he cared about was the black-haired girl with the dusky complexion, just like her.

"Hello handsome." She said when she realized he had stopped by her. Even her voice was similar. Good. Perfect. "Nice hair. What dye do you use?"

"I need you to be someone." He said.

"I can be anyone you want, honey." The woman said.

"Good. Lead the way."

"Whatever you want, sugar."

_I can never get what I want. Too bad for you, pretty bird_.

Cold was growing impatient. That stupid mini-Flash had better keep his promise. He would be VERY angry if he had been trucked all the way out to this deserted field ("no innocents will be harmed" Impulse had repeatedly said. Stupid child) and just left there.

But his faith in the stupidity of superheroes was rewarded, as a voice suddenly spoke behind him.

"Here I am, Snart."

Ah, good. Cold turned to look at the red-suited man with the lightning bolts on his head. Once known as Barry Allen, now known as Wally West, but whatever the name was, the image was that of Cold's eternal nemesis: The Flash.

"It's time Flash. Today, I'll finally…"

"Lemme guess. Put you on ice?"

Cold's eyebrows rose as he heard the voice, and he turned to look.

Impulse waved at him, as did Starfire and Beast Boy.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!??!?!?!" Cold roared.

"Hey Snart, you made the bargain. You help us get Aberration, and you get to fight the Flash to the death. However, you didn't say you got to go free. If you win, well good for you, but we'll be waiting right here. Enjoy your fight." Impulse said.

Cold growled as he looked at Impulse and the Titans. Well, it didn't matter! Jail would be great, as long as he finally took care of the Flash!

"Hey Bart, ever consider becoming a Titan? You'd fit right in." Robin said, as Cold spun away from them, firing his freeze gun at the Flash.

"It's an idea, but I have stuff in my life these days. But hey, you never know what tomorrow will bring!" Impulse said.

"I hope we don't have to fight. I'm tired." Cyborg mock-complained.

"YOU'RE tired? I GOT EATEN!" Raven yelled.

"Relax guys. It's the Flash we're talking about here. I don't think we'll be needed." Impulse said.

And in the end, they weren't.

The room was dark, lit only by moonlight, and for the most part soundless, until the interrupted scream. Shadows danced on the wall as a body thrashed in the darkness, and then suddenly was flung into the moonlight, pinned to the floor as the prostitute fought the grip that encircled her throat, clawing at it. But her hands soon faltered and then fell away, as her body gave one last gasp and then expired.

Slowly, the energy that had wrapped around her neck unraveled itself and slid back into the shadows, as a voice whispered from it.

"You shouldn't have rejected me, pretty birdie…you shouldn't have rejected me…"

Next: Janus!


	16. Janus: Innocence Lost

Chapter 16: Innocence Lost

Writer's Note: A bit of explanation before we begin.

Janus is the name of this arc. Who is Janus? Janus was the Roman god of doors and beginnings (the month January is named after him). So what does that have to do with the story? Well, the thing is, Janus was said to have two faces, so he could see who was coming and going out of his temple at the same time.

However, the phrase "two-faced" also means someone who is deceitful, hiding something, or a traitor. Hence, some people use the term "Janus" to describe someone who is not what they appear. It is that definition of the word that applies, the one that stands for two faces that applies to this arc.

For when it comes to faces, which is the real one?

Which is the false one?

And which one is the dangerous one…?

Don't judge a book by its cover was a lesson everyone should learn, but even lessons learned tend to be forgotten unless you are reminded of them. Something like that had just happened to Savior.

With a name like "The Amazing Mumbo", the idea of taking the foe he was fighting seriously didn't exactly come to Savior. After seeing the blue-skinned, long-nosed magician, the feeling of a joke was only reinforced.

Pity for Savior, as he had found out the hard way that looks weren't everything. Goofy name and appearance aside, Mumbo had demonstrated all kinds of illusion and matter generating/disintegrating tricks that had kept the Titans hopping. Or flying.

Savior was doing the latter, as Mumbo had pulled a hammer the size of a Buick and whacked him with it, sending the white-haired Titan tumbling through the air. He bounced off a brick wall and hit the ground, not seriously hurt except in the ego.

Well, ok then. If a frontal assault didn't work…

Cyborg was trying his luck next.

"And as you will see…" Mumbo said, tugging at the sleeve of his suit. "There's nothing up my sleeve except…MY SLEEVE!" Mumbo laughed, and suddenly lines of red cloth shot out of his sleeve, which wrapped up Cyborg like a birthday present in two seconds flat. Cyborg fell to the ground, muffled yells coming from the bundle as he tried to get out.

Beast Boy, in the form of a tiger, roared and tried to pounce on Mumbo, but the magician darted aside and waved his hand, and suddenly Beast Boy was stuck in a wood box.

"And now in honour of my fallen comrade Roy, I will put a twist on an old trick and saw this tiger in half!" Mumbo said, producing a saw.

"No! Wait! You don't have any idea how to do that!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Don't worry, I've been practicing in prison! I've done this trick a thousand times now!" Mumbo said.

Beast Boy paused, confused and not sure if he should be relieved or not.

"So I'm bound to get it right sooner or later!" Mumbo finished.

Beast Boy concluded he was a fool for even considering stopping panicking and went right back to it, thrashing about as Mumbo lowered the saw…

And then the white thread, so small it could barely be seen with the naked eye, flew over Mumbo's shoulder and inserted itself into his ear. Indeed, it was so thin Mumbo barely felt it, and dismissed the feeling as nothing bad as he began to saw…

At least until his arm yanked the saw out and dropped it. The thing was, Mumbo had not been planning to do that.

"Hey! What the hell!" Mumbo yelled as his arm moved on its own accord, as if it had a life of its own. "What are you doing! What am I DOING? AH! STOP!" Mumbo yelled, as his hand reached into his coat and withdrew his magic wand, the source of all his spells. He continued to scream that this wasn't what he wanted to do and tried to use his other arm to pull his traitorous limb back, but then his other arm went limp, even as the arm holding his wand reared back and threw it through the air.

Mumbo wailed as Savior reached up and caught the wand with the hand that didn't have the Shimmer strand coming out of it. The strand that got thinner and thinner as it went along until it vanished into Mumbo's ear.

"Gotta love deus ex machinas." Savior said, and broke the wand with one clench of his hand. Mumbo's outfit immediately vanished as all his spells deactivated.

"No…" Mumbo said, falling to his knees. He knew why he had lost beforehand: he always took his wand out and someone grabbed it. This time, he had vowed to not take it out for ANY reason…except his body had done it anyway, against his will. "How?"

"Figure it out for yourself. Sleep." Savior said. Mumbo's eyes twitched and then he keeled over, snoring.

The other Titans approached as Savior withdrew the Shimmer-strand from Mumbo's ear. He looked at it distastefully. 

"Ugh. Clean your ears someday buddy, you have enough wax in there to start a candle factory." Savior said.

"Um, excuse me Savior, but might I ask what the HELL DID YOU JUST DO?" Cyborg said incredulously.

"I used the Shimmer to connect to his nervous system, read his memories to find out his weakness, take over his motor controls to make him give me the wand, and then poked a specific part of his brain to make him fall asleep." Savior explained.

"Oh, great. SINCE WHEN CAN YOU DO THAT!??!?!?"

"Recently."

"Explain." Beast Boy said.

"Remember how I nearly got killed when Peek-A-Boo teleported me into the sky and I had trouble saving myself because I couldn't think of an effective way to use the Shimmer?" Savior said in one long run on sentence. "Well, I figured I needed to learn more ways to use it. So for the past few weeks I've been training with Robin, and while studying my power, we found out I can basically "jack into" other people's nervous systems. Not sure how, Robin thinks it's because the Shimmer derives from a beneficial mutation of my nervous system." Savior explained. He didn't mention that that connection with his nervous system is why he felt agonizing pain whenever the Shimmer got cut. "It's delicate, but Robin was kind, brave, or stupid enough to act as a guinea pig while I fine-tuned it. It's pretty interesting, I can read your mind, control your body, etc. Problem is I have to stay connected to do it, otherwise I forget whatever I learned almost immediately."

"You can learn anything?"

"As long as I'm connected. Starfire, do you trust me?" Savior said.

"Yes…but…why?" Starfire said in hesitation.

"Ok then. Don't move…" Savior said as he raised his hand. The very thin strand flowed out and carefully went into Starfire's ear. She looked a bit freaked, but only because she had never had anything like this happen to her.

"What do you feel Star?" Beast Boy asked.

"Just a very slight pressure in my ear…I only notice it because I'm aware of it…" Starfire said.

"Ah, there we go." Savior said, and then he said something that sounded like total gibberish to everyone. Everyone except Starfire, whose eyes widened, and then she squealed in delight and responded with more utter gibberish. The Titans's eyes darted back and forth as Savior and Starfire carried on this gibberish conversation for about twenty seconds.

"Ok, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Cyborg finally yelled.

"He speaks my language now!" Starfire said. Apparently she and Noel had been speaking in Tamaran-ese or whatever Starfire's native language was.

"Only if I stay connected." Savior said, withdrawing the strand. "I have trouble remembering one thought I picked from someone's brain this way, never mind a whole language."

Starfire grinned.

Savior said some more gibberish. Starfire's grin vanished and she looked sad.

"What did I do to you, Savior?" Starfire said.

"What? What did I say? I said I was glad to see you were smiling!"

"No, you said "May all of your teeth fall out"."

Beast Boy and Cyborg cracked up.

"See what I mean?" Savior muttered.

"Interesting talent, but I suggest we take Mumbo to jail and head home. I think it's going to rain soon." Raven said.

"Sure has been a lot of rain lately. Maybe Thunder and Lightning have been really bored these days…" Robin said to himself.

"Hey Savior, do me!" Beast Boy said.

"Hey hey, this trick isn't a toy now. It's delicate. If I'm not careful when I'm poking around in your brain, I could accidentally erase your short-term memory, or cut a blood vessel which would result in a massive cerebral hemorrhage and pretty near instant death." Savior said.

"Oh, why didn't you say that BEFORE YOU WENT POKING IN THE MIND OF MY GIRLFRIEND!" Robin yelled.

"It is ok Robin! I trust Savior, he is very careful!" Starfire said, and flew up into the sky.

"What the lady said." Savior said, and swung/pulled himself after Savior.

"Ok who carries Mumbo…" Cyborg asked.

"Hey, Starfire! Kory!" Savior said as he swung up next to Starfire. "Are you ok?"

"Yes…why Noel?" Starfire asked.

"When I was in your head I got some weird…sensations. They seemed a bit off to me, I just wondered if you were feeling alright." Savior said.

"Yes, I am fine! Totally fine! Absolutely nothing is wrong with me!" Starfire said, grinning widely. A bit too widely for Savior's taste, but he could see no reason why Starfire, the sweetest example of innocence Noel had ever met, would lie to him, so he let it rest and swung off.

Starfire watched Savior go, and then her grin faded as she put a hand to her chest.

Noel was right: something was wrong.

But she couldn't tell anyone.

Hopefully it would go away.

The burning sensation re-awoke in her, stronger this time.

Hopefully.

"Ok, time for takeout!" Cyborg said as he sat down and grabbed the phone.

"I immediately vote AGAINST Chinese." Savior said.

"What? Why?"

"You've been eating from Zhang Ce's restaurant all week! I think all that MSG is causing…problems in some of us…" Savior said, his eyes flicking towards Starfire, who was sitting in a chair and staring at the wall. It wasn't like Starfire, and he knew it.

"Ok fine, pizza!"

"I can go for that." Noel said.

"And to decide who gets it, we will turn to our holiest of rituals: THE HAT!" Beast Boy said as he got a hat and put everyone's names in it.

In the end Starfire was chosen to get the pizza.

"Ok friends, I will be back soon with the round discs with the blood-coloured sauce and curdled cow extract you like so much!" Starfire said, grinning (again, too hard).

"Ok Starfire. See you soon!" Robin said.

"See you soon too Tim…" Starfire said, as she turned and left the room. The feeling was back.

It was getting stronger. If it got any worse…

Oh, Tim…

She wished she knew what to do.

"Hope she gets back soon, I'm hungry." Robin said when his girlfriend had left.

Unfortunately, Robin was the only one NOT there when Starfire returned with the pizzas. Seven or so minutes after Starfire had left, Batman had called, urgently requesting that Robin do something. The Titans weren't given the details, but Batman had INSISTED that Robin come alone. Everyone except Raven had tried to argue with Batman, telling him they should let him back their leader up, but Batman had insisted Robin go alone, and when the teenagers had continue to argue he had just glared at all of them. That had shut them up, as well as turned Beast Boy as white as a sheet. Robin had thanked them and insisted he would be alright, then left. Batman blinked out from the screen.

"Go shake your ears." Noel said to the screen. Victor and Gar looked at him strangely. Noel sighed.

"It's Shakespeare." Noel said. It took him a while to explain, and he was rather surprised that Starfire hadn't returned by then.

Starfire returned forty minutes later, apologizing profusely, saying she had gotten lost. Thankfully, her Starbolt talent had the added effect of being able to heat things, and the pizzas were piping hot.

It was around this time that things began.

Had Noel been at the table, he may have noticed it. But he had gotten into a single-player video game, and after getting stuck on a level, was reading a video game magazine to find out what to do. And since he was perusing the magazine, he didn't notice the way Starfire was looking at him.

Not just him. Victor and Beast Boy were also subject to her gazes. But they were too busy pigging out on the pizza to notice. Only Raven was spared the gaze, and she was too into her own world to notice either.

So Starfire looked. There was hunger in her eyes, a deep hunger, and a hunger that any man worth his salt would have known well…if he had been looking closely. The look contradicted almost every way Starfire usually looked, and it clearly made her uncomfortable, as she fidgeted and twitched, constantly crossing and uncrossing her legs.

Outside the rain had started, and a few minutes later Starfire got up and started leaving.

"You want any more Starfire?" Cyborg asked in between bites of his 14th slice of pepperoni. It was more of a toss-off then an actual desire to save any sustenance for Starfire.

"No…" Starfire whispered.

"You sure you're not hungry?" Cyborg asked, in the tone that husbands used when they reply "No" when their wives ask them if their clothing makes them look fat.

"Oh yes…I'm hungry…" Starfire said, her eyes glittering as she walked out.

A loud blast of thunder shook the room.

"Man, I hate those things. It's like they're signaling something bad is about to happen." Beast Boy said, and continued on his slice.

"Man, who knew they made pizzas out of tofu…" Cyborg muttered.

Some time had passed.

Cyborg had retired to his room to recharge his systems, Raven had gone to hers to meditate. Savior was playing his game, trying to get past the part where he was stuck.

And Starfire was wandering the halls, clutching her chest.

It hadn't gone away.

It had gotten worse. 

It was happening. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but it was happening, and she had to react.

If only Tim was still around…but she couldn't wait.

She had to.

It was ironic that Beast Boy had noticed the thunder clap. It was with him that it started, all with something as innocent as a knock on a door.

"Yes? Oh hello Starfire…" Beast Boy said, and then trailed off as he saw how Starfire was looking at him.

"Kory? What's…"

And that was all Gar Logan got to say, as Starfire leaned down, grabbed his head, and pressed her lips to his.

Crushed, more likely, the kiss was extremely forceful. Beast Boy's incredible shock pretty much froze all his thinking functions, even as Starfire pushed him backwards and pinned him against the wall.

It was when she slipped him the tongue that Beast Boy's shock finally shattered, and after failing to push Starfire away on his own, turned into a gorilla and did it.

"KORY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!??!?!" Beast Boy yelled as he turned back into his human form. "I know I'm cute, but…"

"Don't talk. I need you." Starfire said breathily as she walked towards him. Beast Boy backed up, the shock coming back.

This wasn't happening. The way Starfire was acting, talking…well, Beast Boy, in the back of his mind, recognized the state Starfire was in. But the other part of his mind refused to associate the word with anything Starfire. It just WASN'T her. Yet here she was, acting like that word that Beast Boy would not apply to her but knew that it rhymed with "thorny".

"What, what, huh? How, why…but you're with Robin…I can't…no what the hell…" Beast Boy said as he continued backing up. Later, the thing that shamed him most, that was despite his shock and honest protest to not want to have anything to do of this nature with his friend's girl, part of him had woken up and was jabbering at him to do exactly what she wanted.

"I need you Gar. I need you…" Starfire breathed, as she cornered him against the wall. Beast Boy turned into a weasel and dove between her legs and ran across the room.

"I'm leaving! And you and I will never speak of this again!" Beast Boy said as he opened the door and closed it behind him, running away down the hall. The fact that he had fled from his OWN ROOM would not occur to him until later, neither did the idea he should have reported to Raven to see if Starfire was being mind-controlled or something. He was freaked and that dominated his mindset until it was too late.

Back in his room, Starfire leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. It was as she expected. But it didn't change the fact that her body continued to order her, with increasing ferocity, to do what she had to do.

And for that she needed a man. And with the option of Robin out of the picture, she had to use any man she could.

But Gar was out. And Victor may not have the proper…equipment. That left…

"Noel…"

Noel, much like Gar, never knew what happened.

He had finally gotten past the part he was stuck in, and had just saved at a save point, when Starfire had come in and sat down next to him. He was turning his head to ask her what she wanted when she pounced on him, pinning him to the couch as she did her best impression of a French woman.

Noel was just as shocked as Gar was, but Starfire had him in a position where she had better control, and hence she was able to hold him down and hold her kiss even as she clawed at his shirt. She had managed to rip some of it off by the time Noel was able to push her off.

"KORY WHAT ARE YOU DO-MFFFF!" Noel got out before she forced herself on him again. She had a sweet-tasting mouth, but much like Beast Boy, that realization registered at the back of Noel's head. Most of his thoughts were occupied with getting Starfire off him.

"Have you lost your mind?" he managed to say as he pushed her off him again.

"No. I need you Noel. Take me." Starfire said, and with that unzipped her top and shrugged it off. Noel's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

Guess she is pretty close to human… 

The annoying yammering hentai thought-thinker in the back of Noel's head was immediately stepped on even as Starfire pushed herself back down on Noel, pressing herself against him even as she fumbled for his belt. That finally snapped Noel out of it, and the Shimmer shot out of his hands and wrapped around Starfire, pulling her back and pinning her to the couch.

"What the heck is going on Kory!" he said, trying to fix his torn shirt and not look at the now bare-breasted Tamaran.

"Oh Noel…" she said.

"Look I don't know…" Noel said, trying to avoid looking at Starfire as much as possible.

And in the end, that was how he saw Robin.

Robin had walked into the room and found Noel pinning a topless Kory to the couch with his shirt ripped up and his belt undone. To say that Tim Drake was shocked was an understatement.

"Um…uh…well uh…" Noel said as he saw Tim, trying to find an explanation for what had just happened. His mind was blank. "Er…um…gee…well…uh…I'm gonna run now."

Robin screamed and threw himself at Noel, who pushed himself away with the Shimmer. Robin had his metal fighting pole out and would have thrown it at Noel to knock him down so he could beat him to a pulp, except Starfire grabbed him first.

"NO TIM! IT'S NOT HIS FAULT!" she said, holding Tim fast. Noel took the opportunity to leave, ASAP. He'd find out what was going on when Robin wasn't so determined to kill him.

Robin struggled a bit before he stopped.

"Kory what the hell…"

"Oh Tim…I'm so sorry…I'm so so sorry…" Starfire said, crossing her arms across her bare chest. She closed her eyes and appeared to be waging a furious war within herself, shaking violently for several seconds before the shakes faded.

"Kory, what happened? Oh god, was Noel trying to rape you? Oh if he was I'll kill him…!" Robin said, wondering if he had misjudged his comrade totally and, in the brief moment of that doubt and the possibility of what had happened because if he had judged wrong, filled with murderous rage.

"No Tim…it was me…oh god…" Starfire said, and then said something in her native language. She turned and found her top, putting it back on in a strange show of modesty, considering how she had been acting a moment ago.

"Well then if not…what the hell…" Robin said.

"Oh Tim…I should have said something. But I didn't want to because of what it entailed…and because of that I…oh I'm so sorry…" Kory said, her green eyes tearing up.

"Whoa Kory, it's ok. What's happening? What's wrong?"

Kory sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"It's a bit of a long story, but I'll give the basic…idea. A long time ago, back before my species had fully evolved, we had several problems with…reproduction. Many males were being born barren, if you know what I mean. To survive the females of my species developed something in their bodies we call the Eiltihsll Uba Sisiht now…basically, when it was time to mate, our bodies went into a kind of frenzy…like the canines of your planet, like in 'heat.'"

Robin blushed furiously. He had a feeling he knew what was happening now.

"Well, eventually the problem stopped and so most of the females stopped doing this…but in some lines, it still occurs…and my family's line is one of them. I didn't want to admit it, but it happened…and that's why what happened happened, Tim. I couldn't control myself. Even now, it took me an act of will the greatest warriors on my planet would be amazed by to not well, what do you humans say? 'Jump your bones?'"

Robin blushed even more.

"So…" he stammered.

"Tim…it hasn't gone away. I just quieted it for a bit. The urges will come back Tim…Tim…I need you…"

"Ah…oh…ho boy…." Robin said, feeling like his face was on fire. He had pondered when something like this would happen, but he hadn't expected this.

"Tim, when I first thought this was happening I did some research. Our species are compatible. Tim, I love you…please…I need you…because if it isn't you it'll be someone else…I want it to be you…" Starfire said, stroking the side of Tim's face.

"I I Iyiyiyiy…." Robin said.

"Tim…please…"

"I, uh…well…"

"Tim, I know some place we can be alone. Just you and me. Tell the Titans I was being mind-controlled and you need to go after me alone, because for some reason you're immune to it. Please Tim. I'll go there now so I don't…attack Noel or Gar again, but if you don't come after me…Tim, I want it to be you. We can be together, united as one…and surely you desire me…?" Starfire said, once again slipping back into the state that clashed so much with how the men on the Titans knew Kory.

"…..Ok…ok…" Tim said, still blushing furiously.

"Alright then." Starfire said, and left the room, heading out the window.

Robin sat on the couch for a bit, his mind a storm of emotions, not knowing what to do. He had never expected it to be like this.

But…at the same time…

With Kory…

Robin blushed some more. Well, he needed one thing beforehand…

"Oh my dear sweet Tim…" Starfire said as she smoothed the bed. It was a good thing she had found this place. It would give them privacy for what had to be done.

"You'll come, and I'll bring you in, and then, my dear sweet Tim, I'll bring you to heaven…"

Starfire turned around, looking at the figure chained up and gagged on the wall.

"Isn't that right, Starfire?"

Starfire's eyes widened as she looked at the other her, her twin, the one who had been in the Tower, the one that had invited Robin…

"Yes, my dear Robin will come here, and I'll bring him heaven…" "Starfire" said as she rubbed her hands against her body. But her green eyes showed only vicious rage.

"AND THEN I'LL GIVE HIM HELL."

UH OH. It appears that someone has used disguise to set up something terrible, and while you probably know who it is, that won't help poor teenager Robin, who may soon become the manifestation of a Fefe Dobson song…


	17. Janus: Bye Bye Boyfriend

Chapter 17: Bye Bye Boyfriend

Writer's Note: SR, noted when in actual story.

* * *

Noel turned around from the fridge and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Robin standing there. 

"TIM! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I…!"

"It's ok Noel. I know. It wasn't you. It was Kory." Robin said.

"What? Then what the hell happened?"

Robin told him, as Noel cleaned up the juice he had spilled.

"Oh. I suppose that makes sense. I guess you want me to be your back up so that no one is suspicious of you and Kory sneaking off. I'll do that." Noel said.

"Thanks." Robin mumbled, taking a drink from a Coke he had gotten.

Noel turned back to the fridge, standing there for a few seconds.

"Tim are you a virgin?"

Robin spat his Coke across the entire table, sputtering.

"Look Tim there's really no need to get worked up. Just answer the question. Are you?" Noel said, sitting down.

"Uh, well…um…"

"That would be a yes. Well, no shame in that. Despite what the world might want you to think, having no sexual experience is not something to be ashamed of until you start hitting your mid-thirties. It's certainly not a crime."

"What do YOU care?" Robin sputtered in indignation.

"Well, I am a bit older then you Tim, and I HAVE had some experience with woman…I thought I might…"

"I don't need any advice!"

"I hope you haven't watched any pornography, pretty much anything they show there is a lie in some way…"

"NOEL!"

"Ok well then…"

"NO!"

"You had better wear a condom."

"SHUT UP!" Robin said, putting his fingers in his ears.

"TIM, listen to me. I wouldn't be doing this usually, but we have a slight difference here. You're going to, uh, be intimate with an alien."

"Kory checked that. Our species are compatible."

"Maybe so, but there are other things. What arouses a Tamaran?"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Robin said, his face turning red again.

"Really Tim, this is important. The fact that you and Kory can act much like human lovers is a good sign, but parallel evolution does not mean everything will be covered. Even if you were the greatest lover of the human race, if you don't know what to do with Kory it could very well feel like sodomy to her."

Robin blushed again.

"I would think you being Batman's protégée, you would think of these things, but then again, the mindset you are in is not conductive to thinking."

"Noel, please, thank you but I have it covered."

"There are other things Tim. Kory is very strong. And electroencephalograms taken during, uh, intercourse shows that orgasm is rather like a pleasant epileptic attack. As in, you lose control of your muscles. Even IF you can please Kory, she could break all your ribs…"

"NOEL!"

"Or crush your head…"

"NOEL. SHUT. UP." Robin said.

"Ok, I tried. But this is for your own good Tim. I don't want you to get hurt, ok?" Noel said.

"Noel…" Tim pleaded.

"Ok ok. Look, I'll tell the Titans, but only after you come back. I have to go out somewhere tonight. Much like Kory, I have something I have to do and it can't wait." Noel said. He saluted Tim in an off-hand way and left.

And he was right. Tim knew it. But at the moment his mind was still waging the war of what Kory had become.

It wasn't really his fault. Western society had the weird habit of portraying sex as dirty and forbidden, and hence many men tended to go through life thinking that sex was, despite its pleasures (not to mention that practicality of reproduction) bad. And when Tim compared this mindset that he knew was flawed and stupid but still had some sway in his head due to it being hammered into him by a bunch of puritanical morons with the way Kory, so kind and sweet and above all, INNOCENT, was acting, it caused a mental war.

In the end (and in the words of the late(?) Lord of the Night), it came down to practicality. If she didn't have sex with him, she'd be forced to use another man, possibly against his will. And that was a can of worms 100x worse then the concept that sweet, innocent, Kory could actually be sexually aroused and want to be intimate with him.

Plus, Tim was still a boy. A teenage boy. Which made the decision easier in the end.

* * *

Tim found the place easy enough. It was a recently closed apartment block. Apparently some tenants hadn't managed to get all their stuff yet. Such as the bed.

Though Tim didn't get to see much of the bed or anything else because as soon as he opened the door Starfire had pulled him into it and pressed him against the wall as she passionately kissed him. Robin's doubts beforehand were quickly obliterated in a flood of testosterone as he returned the kiss.

He hadn't worn his full costume. He'd kept the pants, as those had his equipment, but he'd worn a darker shirt and no cape to avoid attracting attention. He had, though, worn a (now discarded) mask. Starfire slammed the door shut and melted the lock. If anyone wanted into the room, they'd have to come in through the fire escape.

After fooling around for about two minutes, Kory broke the kiss long enough to steal over to a table.

"Here. Drink this." She said, offering Tim a brown liquid.

"What is it?"

"Tamaranian males drink it to heighten their, um, abilities. I checked. If you drink it, it'll, in rough terms, make you think like a male of my species. Which we might need." Kory said.

Tim drank it. It actually tasted fairly good, kind of nutty. He didn't have much time to think of the taste, however, as Kory was immediately all over him. They stumbled around, losing bits of clothing, until they finally ended up on the bed.

"Tim…" Kory whispered into his ear.

Tim was about to respond with his own sweet nothing when it hit him: dizziness. He blinked, but it just got worse.

"I have something to tell you…" Kory whispered again.

Tim tried to reply, but his tongue was thick in his mouth and couldn't form words. His vision began to blur, even as a topless Kory said up and smirked wickedly at him.

"I'm cutting you off at second base." "Starfire" said. Robin's last thought was a realization that he had been poisoned.

* * *

"Robin!"

Robin abruptly snapped awake, hearing Starfire's voice. He blinked as his vision swam. He could feel cold metal across his bare back and arms, and as the last of the sedative faded he realized he was manacled by his wrists and ankles to a metal table that had been set upright, so that instead of the ceiling he was looking at a wall.

A wall that was yelling at him.

"Robin! You're awake! Oh god Robin!"

Robin blinked as he looked across him.

It was Starfire. The thought that this may have been some kind of kinky game occurring to Robin had the same odds of someone winning the lottery five times in a row, but any possibility, even as small as that, was utterly dispelled when he saw that Starfire was tied up too, her wrists manacled in thick chains that were attached to the wall. She thrashed and kicked, but she couldn't get away. Perhaps due to the metal band she had around her neck. It looked like some kind of device that would hinder her escape efforts.

"Kory…what's going on…" Robin said, his mind still a bit dull.

"You know, it amazes me…"

And then Starfire walked into Robin's view. Another Starfire. Only the different clothing the second Starfire wore allowed Robin to tell them apart.

"I had heard how easy it was to lead the males of this species around via their genitalia, but I thought for sure it would be harder then this. But no. I just slip the right men a little tongue and they run away in horror, Thinking you'll kill them, and then I show a little skin and you come running like a puppy, so eager to please. Yourself, in any case. You males really should think with the right head. So easy…"

"What…" Robin said. His brain was still clearing itself, though to his credit that was the last confused thought Robin had as his trained body got itself back to full alertness ASAP.

"What? I'll tell you! Starfire here caught herself an Earth virus! You call it the flu, I think. Anyway, it was making her feel weird. Now, I originally had different plans, but when I surprised her, and realized that she was sick with Earth virus that was making her act a bit odd, and her fellows knew it, well, it gave me an idea that was simply too good to resist. I came back and threw myself at the men, claiming that there was some alien genetic curse that made me uncontrollably horny. HA! It sounds like the plot of a bad porn film, and yet you fell for it, hook, line, and sinker! Then again, you males aren't too hard to fool. After all, look what one can do with a wig…"

And Starfire reached up and pulled off her reddish-maroon hair, as dark hair tumbled out from underneath it.

"Some dye…"

The eyebrows turned as dark as the hair.

"Some contacts…"

The green eyes became purple.

"And a special…voice modifier…" "Starfire" said as she reached to the side of her throat and tore something off. "Isn't it?" she finished in a different voice Robin knew all too well.

"Blackfire."

"No DUH." Blackfire said. "Give the man a prize!"

And then she decked Robin, knocking him senseless. Starfire wailed.

"Sister, why are you doing this?" she cried.

"Why? I'll tell you why! Once apon a time, there was a Tamaran girl who liked to have fun! But some old crusty alien men who all had sticks jammed up their asses frowned on the fun, and sent police after the girl! And the police caught her on a planet called Earth, while the girl's sister stood idly by and let her be taken away…"

"But Blackfire, you did commit those crimes…"

"SHUT UP!" Blackfire yelled, slapping Starfire across the face, throwing her backwards.

"Well, the girl may have crossed a few lines, but not the kind that allowed what happened. I was tried and found guilty. But that wasn't good enough. The men wanted me to suffer. So they sent me to the Fythrog Thgrogdar."

Starfire's eyes went wide.

"Oh no…"

"I never really wanted to hurt anyone sister. But they wanted to hurt me. Let me dispel a lie for you sis. There is no such thing as rehabilitation. There is no such thing as learning what you did was wrong. Prison serves one purpose: to make better criminals. The things they did to me…oh god…oh god…" Blackfire said, her eyes tearing up in horror for a moment before they once again filled with rage as she backhanded Starfire.

"AND YOU LET IT HAPPEN! YOU ABANDONED ME! You didn't testify, you didn't do ANYTHING! YOU SENT ME TO HELL, SISTER, **_HELL!_**"

"Blackfire…I never meant to…" Starfire cried.

"Shut up. You left me. You would have let me rot in there had I not escaped. You know how I did it sister? They use collars to suppress any kind of special abilities. You're wearing one now, my old one. It's kind of damaged, but it'll serve its purpose. And even if you did have your powers, those are neranium chains. I don't think you have the strength OR the heat generating ability to get out of them. But even with collars blocking any extraordinary abilities, there were enough sick people in there with twisted minds and desires to commit atrocities like you wouldn't believe…I had to survive sister. And the only way to survive hell is to become part of it. So I did. I killed a Kweraq alien with my bare hands and then snuck out of the place hidden inside his dead body. And then I came back here. You have to pay, sister. You left me. You made my life hell. So I'll do the same. But after watching you, I had a better idea then hurting you. No. Why hurt you when I can hurt your little boytoy there?"

"NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE-AH!" Starfire gasped as Blackfire decked her. She walked over to a table and picked up a long rod.

"Recognize this, sister?" she said, pressing a button. The end of the rod sparked. Starfire's eyes went wide again.

"NO SISTER! NOT A MADALYRIAN PAIN STICK!"

"Oh yes. Why do something if you can't do it in style?" Blackfire said, as she grabbed a rag from the table.

It was about that time, as Blackfire stuffed the rag into Starfire's mouth, that the poor girl realized something no sister ever wants to know about their own sibling: that her sister was now completely and utterly insane.

"And what's better the style then song?" Blackfire said, getting a stereo. "Enjoy sis. This is what you earned. Maybe in your next life, you'll know not to be so selfish."

Robin, by now, had come groggily back to life, as Blackfire armed her Madalyrian Pain Stick even as music started playing.

"I figure this song would be the best sendoff. Enjoy sister." Blackfire said, swaying to the music. Starfire mumbled through the rag, trying to form words to beg her sister not to do this.

(Scene removed where Blackfire sings 'Bye Bye Boyfriend' by Fefe Dobson while torturing Tim with the Madalyrian Pain Stick. Starfire, as you might have guessed, gets madder and madder, but Blackfire is oblivious, caught up in her song and dance until the song ends and...)

Starfire ripped the other chain out of the wall even as she swung the other one, letting it wrap around her fist, even as Blackfire, so focused in her torture, finally turned around to see what the noise was.

WHAM! Starfire leveled her with a chain-wrapped fist, sending Blackfire crashing backwards through the nearest wall.

Starfire ripped the chains off from her wrists and went over to Robin as he lay limp, moaning, his bare chest covered with burn marks.

"Oh Robin…I'm so sorry…Oh Tim…" Starfire said, her anger fading as she pulled the manacles off. Robin collapsed into her arms.

"Kory…"

"Tim…"

With a scream, Blackfire flew back into the room, throwing twin purple blasts that were her version of the Starbolts (Blackbolts?).

Starfire dropped Robin, stood up, and jerked her body to the side as they flew past her and blew up the wall behind her. Still screaming, Blackfire lanced at Starfire, throwing a punch.

Starfire blocked it. Blackfire froze. She had put most of her strength and rage into that blow and her sister had blocked it like it had been a feather.

But Blackfire didn't block Starfire's counter punch. The hole Blackfire had made during her first trip out of the room got a twin as she went crashing through the wall again.

Starfire turned to Robin.

"Call the Titans. I'll deal with my sister." Starfire said coldly, and flew out through the hall.

Coughing, his body still wracked with pain, Robin pulled out the transmitter and managed to get it working.

"Titans…emergency…need all of you hear now…"

"Robin this is Cyborg, what happened?"

"It's Blackfire…she's back…kidnapped Starfire, impersonated her…they're fighting…come quickly…" Robin gasped.

Robin didn't want the Titans to get here ASAP due to Blackfire. He wasn't afraid for Starfire's ability to handle her sister.

No.

What had scared Robin was the four words Starfire had whispered to her sister before she had countered Blackfire's blocked punch, four words Robin had never heard Starfire say and had never expected to ever here her say.

"I'm gonna kill you."

* * *

Next: Starfire vs Blackfire, in the ultimate SIBLING RIVALRY!

And one last thing. You know the name Blackfire gave the false "aroused" state while she was impersonating Starfire?

Read it backwards.

That's all for now. See you later.


	18. Janus: Sibling Rivalry

Chapter 18: Sibling Rivalry

Situations like this can be truly difficult to call.

The battle between the Tamaran sisters Starfire and Blackfire were now being waged with equally frenzied states for both participants. Blackfire, having suffered the horrors of a prison infamous throughout the universe, fought with the rage that only a broken, scarred, and poisoned mind could muster, utterly certain that the fault in the torment she had suffered lay in her sister's inability to do anything, unable to accept her own role in where she had been placed, totally irrational and not wanting rationality. Just bloody revenge.

But in her revenge, Blackfire had unwittingly set herself up. For all her kindness and innocence, Starfire had been trained as a warrior on her planet, just as Blackfire had. The talent to manifest the destructive energy blasts known as the Starbolts was linked to anger. In harming a man, hurting him deeply, for no other reason then a sick desire to get back at her, Starfire would have been angry herself. But the fact that Blackfire had done this to her lover had put her in a state of rage that easily matched her sister's insane one.

In the end, it would be about who wanted it more.

* * *

Perhaps the true victim of this situation would be the apartment complex (thankfully abandoned) that Blackfire had lured Robin to and in whose basement she had tortured him in. The two sisters had made Swiss cheese out of the building as they had thrown each other through walls, ceilings, and floors. They finally left the building out of a seventh story window, flying through the air as they traded punches.

Blackfire reared up for a big swing, but she telegraphed herself too much and Starfire dodged it, flying around Blackfire and slamming her laced hands together down, smashing Blackfire down towards the ground. She landed with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Starfire flew down, as the smoke cleared. Blackfire screamed and snapped her hand up, throwing a Blackbolt. Starfire met it with her own blast, and an explosion detonated between the two, throwing them backwards.

Starfire was getting up when Blackfire rammed herself into her gut, flying backwards and driving her through the apartment walls and out through the other side. Starfire stopped the charge with a vicious elbow to the head and followed up with a pistoning blow to Blackfire's chest. Blackfire countered with a cracking hook that nearly dislocated Starfire's jaw, but Starfire spun with the blow and slammed her heel across Blackfire's face, sending her flying.

Blackfire halted herself in mid-air and fired beams out of her eyes. Starfire dodged away from them and fired off a Starbolt. Blackfire dodged and flew right into Starfire's vicious punch. She bounced off the side of the building and lanced back at Starfire, grabbing for her throat. Starfire blocked it with her arms and the two grappled in the air.

Blackfire began kicking at Starfire, but the Titan blocked the blows with her legs. Screaming in Tamaran, Blackfire reared back her head and slammed her skull across the bridge of Starfire's nose. Starfire staggered back, and Blackfire flipped in mid-air and slammed her foot across Starfire's chin, sending her flying upward. Blackfire zipped past her, grabbed her, and then blasted downward, driving Starfire into the roof of the apartment building. Every single remaining window in the building shattered from the impact, even as the roof caved in. Loud crashing came from the building as the two broke through the floors, and then the building shuddered violently one more time and collapsed, burying the alien girls under tons of rubble.

* * *

Robin watched the building collapse with some shock and fear.

While he had not worn most of his costume, he had brought it, in a small bag Blackfire had not noticed him dropping because she was too busy seducing him. He had managed to sneak up the stairs, sometimes barely avoiding the warring aliens, and grab it, putting his costume back on.

He had been worried for a moment, as Blackfire had managed to take his mask off, seeing his face. However, he soon realized that she couldn't give a damn if he had a secret identity or not: she just wanted to hurt Starfire. At least some good had come out of that torture. He still hurt, but his training had allowed him to recover much quicker then the average man, and hence he had managed to make it out of the building before it had collapsed on his head.

"Kory?" he said.

The wreckage exploded upward as the two sisters blasted out of it, still grappling with each other. Blackfire finally broke it up by violently kneeing Starfire in the gut, and when she lurched forward, ramming her elbow into the back of her head. Starfire hit the ground hard.

"I was always better then you sister." Blackfire said as she flew down, her hands glowing purple. "In fact I'd say I have this fight wrapped up!"

And she fired four Blackbolts in a quick one-two burst. The blasts shot out, but they didn't detonate. Rather, they hit the rising Starfire on her arms and legs, carrying her backwards until she hit a wall, where the energy pinned her there.

"Always." Blackfire said, charging her hand again. "Time to die, dear sister."

Blackfire charged.

And Starfire screamed, and then yanked against the bonds. The energy didn't break.

The wall did.

Blackfire stopped as her sister yanked chunks of the wall off to escape, and then Starfire struck by lashing out and ramming the broken parts into Blackfire. The rock shattered on impact, as did the other piece. Blackfire staggered back, and Starfire lanced a kick into her gut and sent her flying back into the rubble.

Screaming, Blackfire flew up into the sky. Starfire followed, and Blackfire opened fire with a barrage of Blackbolts, hundreds of them.

Starfire flew into the midst of all the blasts, her hands and eyes glowing bright green, and then she countered with her own onslaught. The ground shook and the sky filled with fire. Robin dove for cover as the heavens thundered.

Blackfire kept firing, and that proved to be her downfall as Starfire flew out of the explosions and nailed her. Blackfire flew down and hit the ground so hard she tug a three-foot channel in her wake.

Starfire dove down as Blackfire stopped her trip and flew up, landing. Her eyes blazing hate, she thrust out her hands and threw so many Blackbolts they overlapped each other, all of them zooming in on Starfire as she flew at her sister.

The explosion was so strong it knocked the rising Robin flat on his back again. Indeed, the two sisters were making such a racket that the approaching Titans could hear them. But they were still a few minutes away.

And Starfire, burned and battered but still mad as hell flew out of the smoke of the explosion and punched her sister across the face. Blood flew.

Blackfire was stunned but not unable to counter, and she did, slamming her own fist across Starfire's face. Starfire countered with a roundhouse heel kick, and Blackfire countered that with a jumping knee strike. Each driven back a bit, the sisters thrust their hands out, their fists slamming into each other so loud it sounded like a gunshot.

Each sister tried to follow up with their other hand, and once again their hands intercepted each other. Interlacing their fingers, the two sisters fought a furious war of strength and wills as green and purple energy crackled around them and the ground shook, parts of it rising off the ground and disintegrating from the sheer force Starfire and Blackfire were exerting on each other.

Neither won that war, so the two went back to trading punches, and more blood flew as the sisters opened new wounds on each other and re-opened old ones.

Robin watched in shock, completely unable to comprehend that the Starfire he knew could be so vicious.

He hadn't seen nothing yet.

The end was coming, though neither side knew it. But it might have become apparent to the outside viewer when Starfire dodged aside from a Blackfire hook and rammed her fist into Blackfire's chest so hard it almost seemed to bulge out Blackfire's back. Blackfire gasped, and then Starfire smashed her foot across Blackfire's face. Blackfire stumbled and nearly fell, but Starfire didn't let up, slamming twin left and right punches across her sister's face. Blackfire staggered back, trying to recover.

Starfire threw a Starbolt, but Blackfire dodged, grabbed Starfire's arm, and threw her above her as she fired her own Blackbolt after Starfire. Starfire met it in mid-air with another Starbolt and again an explosion blasted the sisters apart. Blackfire was immediately back on the offensive as she flew at Starfire, swinging her fist. Starfire dodged and Blackfire followed with a roundhouse. Starfire ducked under that and snapped out her legs, sweeping Blackfire's feet out from under her, and then whirled and slammed Blackfire with an uppercut while she was still in mid-air. Blackfire spun, out of control, into the sky, and Starfire, yelling something that Robin couldn't make out, flew up, grabbed her sister by her head and knees, and flew downward, slamming Blackfire down on her knee sternum-first as hard as she could. Robin felt the impact from fifteen feet away.

Blackfire hit the knee so hard she bounced off it, and then she went limp and collapsed at Starfire's feet. She coughed, blood welling from within her and coming from her mouth. She tried to get up, but all her strength was gone, her anger keeping her exhaustion hidden until it too had burned out, leaving her with nothing left.

She looked up at her sister, at her sister's cold, angry eyes, and finally realized just what she had done.

"Sister…"

Starfire said nothing. Instead she held out her right hand as it began to glow green.

"Starfire…Koriand'r…" Blackfire begged.

"You claim I sent you to hell, Komand'r. Well, you were wrong. I am doing that now." Starfire said in a tone that dripped ice, and thrust her hand down.

"NO!"

Robin's staff knocked Starfire's hand aside at the last minute, and Blackfire just caught the shockwave of the killing blow, sending her flipping head over heels across the ruined landscape. Starfire looked at the staff and then Robin was in front of her.

"You can't do that Kory. It's what she would do. And that's not you. Neither is this. Come back to me Kory…" Robin pleaded.

"Tim…"

"Kory, please…it's over…it's over." Robin said, taking off his mask so that Kory could see his eyes.

Starfire blinked, and then the cold killing rage, a rage that lurks in all of us, dissolved as she collapsed into Robin's arms, weeping.

"Tim…!" she sobbed.

"It's ok Kory. It's over. We'll all ok…" Robin said as he stoked the sobbing alien, trying to give her comfort for her pain.

"Why?"

"…Why what?"

"Why did this happen? My sister…she was irresponsible and mean and even a little cruel but she was never…why Tim? Why did people do those things that made her like this? Why do people hurt each other so much, for no other reason then to do it? Why, for pity's sake, WHY?"

For a moment Robin had no answers for Kory, of why people did the things they did, and what happened to those who were hurt, and how sometimes they became even worse then those who hurt them.

_And much of madness, and more of sin, and horror the soul of the plot…_Poe had written in his poem _The Conqueror Worm_. Somehow that just fit. There was no ending or answer to this plot. Just horror.

"It's ok Kory. We'll help her. We'll say she committed new crimes here and has to stay here for incarceration. We've saved so many chunks of the universe so many times I'm sure we can call in a favour or two. We'll get her therapy, help of any kind. We'll try and help her get better. I promise you." Robin said. It was all he could do, as he had no answers for Kory's most agonizing questions.

"Uh, guys?"

Robin opened his closed eyes to see Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven standing in front of him, apparently curious about what was happening.

"Guys! Glad you're here! We have a problem, Blackfire came back…" Robin stammered, as he pulled himself away from Kory and tried to switch from Comforting Boyfriend to Fearless Leader mode.

"Yeah, we gathered that from the noise. But since I doubt you two would be all kissy-kissy if she was still running around, so mind telling us what happened?" Cyborg said. Robin grimaced. He apparently hadn't heard Starfire's pain over what she had just did, over what her sister had forced her to become, and Robin, through a glance to the side, could see she had composed herself. Instead Victor had thought Kory and he had been making out.

Insensitive, but there was no malice in Victor's perception. Robin would let him have his misconception. He'd rather never speak the truth.

"Well, Starfire managed to beat her, she's…" Robin said as he looked over to where Blackfire had landed.

But she wasn't there any more.

"Ah nuts, I thought she was down for the count! Titans, spread out! She was pretty banged up, she can't have gotten far! GOGOGO!" Robin said. He did want to help Blackfire, but he also wanted her in a padded cell rather then free.

In the end he was only human.

* * *

It was amazing what pain could do. It could make monsters and break them, and in Blackfire's case, it had broken it.

The fog she had lived in for a while had faded, at least somewhat. It had been replaced with the pain that consumed her, but Blackfire, crouched in a nearby alleyway, taking in ragged gasps of air, could live with that.

Maybe she had been wrong. Wrong in her methods anyway. She had no idea that such a savage could have existed inside her sister, and in retrospect, maybe driving her sister into such a state had been an error. But Blackfire wasn't done yet. She had to heal, and she may have changed her views somewhat, but her sister had still done nothing to help her, and for that she had to pay.

Indeed, Blackfire was in such pain she barely noticed the figure drop down the roof behind her. But she DID notice.

Now, she knew it couldn't have been any of the Titans yet. She'd seen the other arriving as she had fled, and she knew they'd spent at least a little time checking each other out for injuries. But that was only the original five. She had heard they had added a sixth member, and he might have seen her sneaking off. She couldn't have that.

Well, he probably didn't know her that well. She'd say a charming word and then Blackbolt him through the wall. That should give her enough time to leave.

"Well…" Blackfire suddenly said, turning around to face the man who had dropped down. "If it isn't the newest Titan…hey wait…"

And then the tendril sprang out of the shadows, lancing through the air and wrapping around Blackfire's throat. Blackfire gasped and started to gag as her air was cut off.

"AH WHAT ARE YOU DOING! AIIIIGuuuhhhhhhhh…" Blackfire managed to get out before the grip became so strong that she couldn't form words. She clawed at the energy strand as it lifted her off the ground with ease, but she couldn't get a grip, and her battle had left her weakened.

"Sorry lady, but my recent life experience has given me a very strong hatred for brunettes. And since I can't go for my real birdie, well…you'll do…" the figure said.

The last thing Blackfire saw was the merry joy in his eyes, undertoned by the furious, murderous anger, and then she knew nothing more, as the muscles in her neck finally gave in and caved under the pressure.

The figure dropped the alien on the ground, pleased. Then his ears pricked up. Company. It wouldn't do for them to see him like this. It would raise questions, and he didn't want those.

There was still a lot to do, and they couldn't know of it. No, him being seen would not do at all.

The figure snapped out his energy rope and pulled himself away from the scene.

The Titans arrived roughly 12 seconds later. Their reaction, needless to say, was quite strong.

"SISTER! OH MY GOD! OH NO, OH NO!" Starfire said.

Most of the Titans were stunned into a motionless state. They had expected to find Blackfire hurt, but they hadn't expected to find her sprawled in an alleyway, her throat literally crushed. Only Raven, in her usual calm state, reacted, floating over to see if she could help.

She was amazed when she still detected a faint sign of life. Had Blackfire not been an alien species, she would have dismissed it as impossible. But something in her alien constitution still allowed her to cling to life even after her throat had been destroyed.

But she knew it wouldn't last much longer.

"Damn…blast it…" Raven cursed. She had the talent to heal, but Blackfire's throat and neck were so damaged that she was hesitant to try anything lest she make a mistake and finish whatever had caused this.

Beast Boy, having had enough shock for one day, first heard the noise before Savior landed in the alleyway.

"Noel!"

"Hey guys I got the signal what's…oh geez…" Savior said as he saw what had happened to Blackfire. "What happened here?"

"We'll tell you later…" Robin said.

"Noel can you help her?" Starfire pleaded.

"Her windpipe had been crushed. I need it to be open so she can breath, but…" Raven said.

Savior's eyes narrowed.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do…ok…ok…" Savior said, focusing all his concentration as he slipped a Shimmer strand out. It carefully flowed out and into Blackfire's mouth, as Savior tried to guide it so it could set the windpipe, at least enough for Raven to heal it and keep Blackfire alive until she could get surgery. The strain of such a delicate "field operation" was murderous, especially considering that Blackfire was an alien and may not have a respiratory system that Savior could understand, but through sheer good luck Savior managed to correct the windpipe long enough for Raven to heal Blackfire's throat.

"Now she can breathe, but this kind of injury needs serious medical attention, NOW." Raven said.

Savior used the Shimmer as a brace to set Blackfire's head, so moving wouldn't cause her further injury, and Raven and he teleported away, even as Starfire began to cry again.

* * *

The next day was hell, as Starfire walked around in a terrible state from her sister's horrible injury and the mystery of who had inflicted it, while Robin tried to explain exactly how the scheme had happened and all their roles in it.

"Kory had the flu, which is why you thought something seemed off, Noel." Robin explained during a meeting held during the day.

"Why didn't she say something?" Cyborg asked.

"Because of you, Victor."

"WHAT?"

"No, it's not your fault. Remember when Beast Boy had that hangnail?"

"Hey, I don't care how overall harmless it was, that hangnail HURT!" Beast Boy complained.

"Yes Gar, I know, but Victor ragged on you anyway. Somewhere in there he said that next you would be complaining of the flu. Apparently Kory overheard this, and later, when she got it, she didn't want to complain because she thought you would see her as a lesser because of it. Also, she says, she didn't want to give it to me, so she was wondering what to do. But when she went to go get the pizza, Blackfire ambushed her. She found out about the flu somehow, and how it was making Kory act odd…and she used it. As you all well know. The plan was to embarrass you guys so that you would avoid me, and then lure me in and well, you know the rest."

"Gotta hate quantum theory." Noel muttered, commenting on how one of the theories suggested that a small event somewhere could somehow cause a much larger event elsewhere.

"If a butterfly flaps its wings…" Cyborg said, agreeing.

* * *

The day ended well, at least, as Star Labs contacted the Titans. Blackfire was finally out of surgery, and while her alien nature left things up in the air, the specialized scientist had hope that she would recover from the attack. Starfire immediately cheered up and left with Raven to give the scientists all the medical data about the Tamaran species she could. Feeling relieved, Savior also excused himself, saying he had something to do.

"Man, he has a lot of errands to run these days. Or nights. Does he ever go out during the day?" Cyborg pondered.

"I haven't seen him." Beast Boy said.

"He must have been far away to take so long answering the summons."

"Well we can't all teleport…" Beast Boy was saying. The Star Labs tech was talking to Robin and didn't seem to need them, so the two horsed around. At least until Robin bid the tech goodbye and turned off the screen. He looked back at the two, his face a bit grim.

"What's wrong Tim?"

"Something about Blackfire's injuries. The doctors there are having a hard time making sense of it."

"She was choked, right?"

"Yes, so hard that the muscles in her throat tore off the bone and her windpipe collapsed."

"Ow."

"Yes. But there's something REALLY weird. Her spinal column was hardly damaged at all."

"Uhhhhhh…"

"Gar, do you know how much pressure it would take to make that happen to a human throat, much less an alien throat? You couldn't do it with your hands, even if you had superhuman strength. Especially considering the lack of damage to the spinal column. The amount of pressure exerted would vary too much with hands. Different fingers, sweat, the fact that most people have one hand stronger then the other…it would vary all over the place. No, whoever did this somehow managed to do it using the EXACT amount of pressure around the whole neck, with a degree of precision so that the windpipe and throat were nearly destroyed while the delicate nervous system remained unharmed."

"So, uh…"

"Guys, the doctors found a bruise that is a perfect circle around Blackfire's neck. Like a rope. But no mere rope could do this. An unmoving, exact amount of pressure on all sides rope doesn't exist. This would have to be some kind of magic rope…or something that has properties…of a rope…"

Beast Boy and Cyborg took a few seconds to get it, but they did.

"….No…" Beast Boy whispered.

"Yeah that's my thought. But it does seem…very strange…"

"But…no way! We'd know! Somehow!" Cyborg declared. "It can't be!"

"I didn't say it either. But it's just an idea…an idea…" Robin said. But all the things Batman had taught him were nagging at his head. Particularly a certain line Batman had once said.

_It is those with the brightest of faces that often hide the darkest of souls._

Robin hoped that wasn't true.

He didn't want to find out the one who had struck down Blackfire was a teammate.

* * *

Thus ends the Janus arc, and now, it is time for the Titans to learn of the nature of a foe…that may very well be a friend…

Next: ENEMIES!


	19. Enemies: Fallen

Chapter 19: Fallen

_"Keep up appearances, there lies the test,_

_The world will give thee credit for the rest._

_Outward be fair, however foul within,_

_Sin if thou wilt, but then in secret sin."_

Charles Churchill

The next few weeks were uneventful, at least by Titan standards.

Blackfire was recovering, and arraignments had been made that she could stay on Earth, so Starfire was in a much better mood. Gar and Victor continued their video game wars. Noel and Raven continued to avoid each other.

And Robin did research.

He had found two cases that fit what he was looking for. Same type of injury inflicted the same way. One had happened nearly two months ago, the second one three weeks later. Besides that, nothing.

But they were similar…

It would have left it at that, if not for one thing: Noel continued to go out at night.

He never gave any explanation, saying it was personal. Robin had even followed him a few times. All Noel did was go to a café. Actually, a rather specific kind of café, populated by a certain breed of dark, broody people. Noel sat there, drank coffee, and listened to the poetry and conversations. The second time Robin had followed, he had even tried reading something himself. It was terrible, and the crowd let him know it. Even Noel had admitted it was crap.

So all Noel seemed to be guilty of was pining over Raven.

Unless he knew he was being followed…

Robin banished the thought. If it was true he would know…

But…

No, he was wrong. Just a coincidence. There was no way.

Then again, they said hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

What about a man?

"Congratulations Noel!" Starfire said as she appeared in front of Savior, who was eating breakfast. His surprise nearly made him choke on his muffin. By the time he had managed to recover his ability to breathe, Starfire had produced a box and was offering it to him.

"It isn't my birthday…"Savior said.

"It's almost as good! You have been a Titan for four months now!"

"Uh…"

"On my planet, a warrior is accepted into a clan after they have been tested for four months. You have passed any and all tests we gave you, and I wanted to give you something to show that now and forever you are a part of this team!" Starfire said, grinning.

"Uh…ok…thanks…" Savior said, taking the box. He hesitatingly opened it, not knowing if Starfire's alien customs had just made her give him a bomb or something that could prove hazardous.

In the end it was nothing more then a jacket, much like the ones Savior normally wore. Except this one had a big T on the right shoulder.

"You made this? For me? By yourself?" Savior said, impressed.

"Well, Gar helped! I never knew he could sew!" Starfire declared loudly. In the next room Savior heard a loud groan and then laughter as Cyborg assumingly mocked Gar for this bit of knowledge he had acquired due to Starfire's very loud voice.

"Thanks." Savior said, putting on the jacket. It fit like a glove, and the stitching was top notch.

"It was my pleasure! Now we are true teammates!"

"Uh, Kory, there isn't anything in this jacket that could hurt me, is there?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, you're still learning Earth customs…plus you may still have the flu for all I know."

"The flu is long gone! And so is the weird way it made me feel! No worries!" Starfire said, grinning.

"Oh. That's good. But that makes me think Kory. What if you catch another disease?"

"Like what?"

"Well, if a flu caused that odd feeling that Blackfire took advantage of, I'd hate to think of what something else could do, like chicken pox or anemia…"

"What? Anemboa-mea? What does that do? Does it turn me into a single celled organism?" Starfire said, looking worried.

"No no, anemia. It's a condition humans get if they don't have enough iron in their blood."

"You have METAL in your blood?"

"Yes! No! Uh, kinda! We, uh…hey look Robin!" Savior said, pointing. When Starfire looked away Savior scampered off, not in the mood for a long explanation of exactly how the human body had metal in it.

"Morning Kory." Robin said.

"Robin, I am worried. There is a disease I might catch that will turn my blood into metal." Starfire said.

Later, Robin wondered just what Noel had said to his girlfriend.

He had been wondering a lot about Noel lately.

In any case, Robin was not going around making false accusations. Nothing drove a wedge between a team quicker then distrust, especially if it was caused by accusations (even worse if those accusations were later proven false). So he had kept his research to himself, not even telling Gar and Victor what he was doing. They had quickly dismissed what they had learned of Blackfire's attack as just wild thinking. He didn't even tell Batman or Oracle, using his own resources to gather data.

And so it remained as just a nagging, horrifying possibility.

Until that very night.

Until the night Grace Elfsan died.

It all began with something familiar: Noel was going out again. Indeed, Robin and Starfire had been out themselves when he had left, and had found out in a half-hand way from Beast Boy, who was losing at the video game again. Raven was reading in the lounge, and Robin and Starfire continued lessons in Earth etiquette that Robin taught Starfire whenever he had a chance.

A loud yell came from the couch, indicating Beast Boy had pulled off another come from behind win that broke Cyborg's streak. Whenever that happened, Victor usually turned the game off, and he did. The television game on.

"This is an action news flash! There have been reports that television newscasters have been suddenly exploding…"

A loud boom echoed from the television as Cyborg turned it off.

"Anyone up for a movie?"

"Rented or theater?"

"I don't know…"

"Sorry Titans, I'm afraid there may be no movies tonight."

The new voice got the Titans's attention, and if it hadn't, the entrance certainly would have, as the man floated in.

He was dressed all in green and black, an armoured suit that had a symbol in the center of his chest. His armoured mask was also green, as was the energy surrounding him as he flew in. Robin's jaw dropped a bit.

"Green Lantern? What are you doing here?" Robin said. Kyle Rayner, the current Green Lantern, was the bearer of a proud legacy of superheroes and metahumans. They had all wielded the power of the Green Lantern Power Ring, a device that allowed anything the wearer imagined to be manifested in solid form. It suited Kyle, an artist, well. He was a member of the Justice League and a tried and true hero. And while he was a nice guy, he wasn't in the habit of just dropping into other superhero group headquarters for a visit.

"Wish I could say likewise, but business. You may have heard of it already."

"What?"

"There have been several deaths around my city lately."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Ok, why are you speaking to us?" Robin said, though in the back of his head Robin was starting to come to a sick realization.

"I wasn't planning too. It was actually by accident. I was dropping by Star Labs with a prisoner…and while there I saw that alien girl you tangled with a few weeks ago."

"Oh no, is something wrong with my sister now?" Starfire asked, horror seeping into her eyes.

"No…it was her injuries."

The Titans were quiet.

"She was strangled so violently that her throat was crushed…yet her spinal column was hardly damaged at all. That was her injuries…and over the past several weeks, there have been several deaths in my city that match that…how shall we say…unique signature."

"I…see…" Robin said. The sick feeling was becoming overwhelming.

"I checked with Batman if there were others. There have been. In a few other cities as well. And when Batman ran the data it showed that all the cities seem to radiate out from a center pattern…this city. Jump City is in the center. I think the killer is here, and I'm pretty damn sure he's or she's a meta. There's no other way to explain the nature of those injuries."

Robin felt like he was spinning over a vast chasm, as more and more pieces began fitting in, forming a picture he didn't want to look at.

"So I figured I would drop in and ask your help. Have you heard of anything?" Green Lantern said.

"I have." Robin said quietly. He couldn't hold it in any more.

"Oh? What have you heard Robin?" Lantern asked.

"I…did some research…after….and I…"

"What is it man? C'mon, spit it out!" Beast Boy chided.

Robin blinked and then spoke.

"I think its Noel."

Grace Elfsan was a woman that history would have never noticed, and for the good reason that she was nothing in the grand scheme of things. She was a prostitute, addicted to heroin and crack and just beginning the long terrible descent into death that drugs and the streets brought to women like her.

Except she made it there much quicker then expected, as she cut through an alleyway. She was about 2/3 of the way through it when the figure landed in front of her. She stopped, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Hello, pretty birdie." He said, and thrust out his right hand. A coil of energy flew from his palm, striking out and wrapping around Grace's throat before she could blink.

Most would wish that some mercy could be granted to this poor woman as the coil of energy strangled the life out of her, but that would be a lie. Her life was slowly and carefully stripped from her until she was nothing more then a shell when she finally expired.

He drew her close as she died, inhaling as her last breath coughed out of her throat, drawing the final air into him. Ah, so sweet.

He tossed Grace Elfsan away. He no longer cared about her. He just cared about moving on to another. His rage just grew with each one.

He needed another, tonight.

And if he had gathered correctly, it would be soon…

The Titans and GL had listened as Robin had explained his theory on why Noel could be the killer. The worst part, in Robin's opinion, was Starfire's look of total incomprehension throughout the explanation. She understood what Robin was talking about: she just couldn't accept a word of it.

But, as Robin laid it out, it seemed pretty damning. Noel was gone during at least three of the nights that murders had been committed. The murders had been committed in a way no normal man or even most metahumans could accomplish, but it fit the Shimmer. It could certainly exert the amount of pressure needed with the precision that had been shown. Never mind that Noel had turned up last when Blackfire had been hurt, or more specifically, AFTER Blackfire had been hurt.

But despite the means and possible opportunity, Robin's theory kept hitting the brick wall of motive. He, nor any of the Titans, could think of one, never mind actually believe that Noel was killing people.

"I can't listen to this, guys. I'm watching television." Cyborg said, leaving the room.

"Victor…" Robin called after him. "I know. I really…"

"Look Tim, the evidence is all flimsy and relies on "Well if's" and "Only if's". I don't think you need to be accusing your teammate." Lantern said.

"Agreed. I cannot fathom Noel hurting a fly." Starfire said.

"Neither can I. He's got his problems, but a killer? No." Beast Boy agreed, and left to watch television with Cyborg.

"It was just a thought…Robin, can I use your computer? I need to check in with the JL." Lantern said.

"Sure, it's through there." Robin said, pointing. Green Lantern left the room.

It took about four seconds for both Starfire and Robin to look at Raven.

"What?" she said.

"I think you know."

"No, I don't."

"You know." Robin said.

"I DID NOT DO WHAT I DID IN SPITE! I HAD TO DO IT!" Raven suddenly yelled. A nearby lamp exploded, and Raven recoiled, clutching her chest.

"Raven? Are you ok?"

Raven fought back the burning, and it faded quickly.

"Yes. Just heartburn."

"I see."

"Look, you know what? Let's nip this in the bud. I know how we can solve this." Raven said.

"How? Surely you do not think Noel is guilty, do you Raven?" Starfire asked.

"I'm not assuming anything." Raven said. "There is something I can do. It involves Noel's Shimmer."

"What about it?"

"I'm an empath, a sorceress. I can sense things that would escape you. Every specific talent, especially one that manifests like Noel's, has a mark. If Noel HAS, somehow, done these things…then I could sense the Shimmer's mark on the woman. If there's no mark it's someone else…"

Raven trailed off.

"And if it is on the women?" Starfire asked.

Raven was silent.

"Sounds good Raven, but first we would need…"

"Another body?"

Robin and Starfire jumped, and then turned to look at Cyborg standing in the doorway, his face grim.

"It's on the news. A new victim. Same marks as the previous ones. Whoever is out there has killed again."

A morgue is an eerily impersonal place. Here, the cold meat structures of what were once living, breathing human beings were taken, carved up, examined, put back together, and shipped off to be buried in the equally uncaring ground. The dead don't mind much though. Such things, by then, are beyond their caring.

Grace Elfsan's body had been brought in, but a scheduling error had caused there to be no mortician on duty. The police were too busy to look after the body, and besides, most people regarded tales of grave robbers to be urban legends or exaggerated at best. Hence, the morgue was not guarded closely, hell it wasn't guarded at all.

Which made it easy for the Titans to slip in, brought into the building via Raven's teleportation talent. Green Lantern was with them, and he went to watch the door. If anyone showed up, his ring would allow them to be undisturbed until they finished their task. Exactly what GL would do to keep them from being disturbed was left up in the air, but Robin was happy enough not to know.

"How long do you think it'll take Batman or your other friend to contact us?" Beast Boy asked.

"Could be minutes, could be days. You never know what's gonna come up." Robin said as he went over to a file cabinet and began scanning.

It didn't take him long to find where the dead flesh once known as Grace Elfsan resided. And despite the fact that the Titans had seen bodies before, Starfire (and though he refused to admit it, Beast Boy) gasped as Robin pulled the body out. Thankfully, someone had left a sheet on.

"You sure this is her?" Beast Boy said.

"Toe tag says so. Ok Raven, do your thing." Robin said, anticipation and fear boiling in his gut.

Raven stepped over and extended her hand, placing it over Grace's corpse. She closed her eyes and began chanting to herself.

"Still no one." Green Lantern said from his spot. Robin rather admired that the man, a member of the greatest superhero team on the planet, and recently having possessed god-like powers before he gave them up for a great act of generosity, was humble enough to listen to a group of teenagers.

Then a voice crackled at Robin's belt. Robin started, and then unclipped his communicator.

"Robin, this is Cy. I'm on my way there."

"What? Why?"

"Remember how you sent a message to Batman? Well a reply got sent almost as soon as you had left. At first I didn't really see anything important: it was just gathered data on the victims. But then…Robin you have to…"

And that was the last Robin heard as Raven recoiled with a gasp, banging against the wall behind her. Everyone in the room jumped again.

"Raven!" Robin said, running over.

Raven didn't reply. She just blinked a few times.

"Raven?"

"…No….oh by Azarath no…no…" Raven said, and Robin could see there were tears in her eyes.

Then he knew for sure, and despite all the terrible feelings in anticipation for this possible reality, he couldn't prepare for the shockwave of horror that washed over him.

He almost didn't want Raven to speak. As if speaking somehow would make it irrevocably real, if the fact would turn out to be a horrible mistake if Raven just kept silent. But she didn't, and in the end it was all the worse.

"I…I…I did the spell exactly. I even did it twice in case of a mistake…Noel…I can sense him…the Shimmer…it's on this woman. He did this." Raven said.

The silence that filled the room was, appropriately, like that of a tomb. Even Green Lantern, who had been betrayed a few times himself over his life, found himself in the quiet horror that comes when you realize a teammate, a person you trusted, fought with, liked, and maybe even more, had fallen from the grace he seemed to possess into the terrible things that mankind did to itself.

"But…WHY?" Beast Boy said.

"I think I can answer that."

This time everyone jumped at Cyborg's sudden voice, as the metal man appeared behind Green Lantern. How he managed to sneak in was not asked, as everyone cared more about the sheath of papers he held.

"I didn't notice this at first…" Cyborg said as he laid the papers out on the table. "But when I did…I think it answers everything."

Robin began flipping open the files even as Cyborg continued to lay them down. By the time he was finished there were nearly twenty of them.

The first woman, despite her terrible throat injury, didn't really look all that remarkable. Neither did the second, or the third. Until you started to notice the similarities.

By the time all the Titans saw all the women, they knew. Just to drive it home, Beast Boy went over and numbly pulled back the sheet that covered Grace Elfsan's body. It matched.

In some cases it was slight, in others more obvious, but it was all there.

All the women looked like Raven.

There were no comforts for these times, Kyle Rayner thought as he watched the Titans try to come to grips with what they had learned. For all that was said and written that said that those with extraordinary powers were somehow more then human, in the end, sometimes terribly so, all superheroes were far too human.

And sometimes humans went bad. Terribly, horribly bad.

He had a feeling what the Titans were going to do next. He also had a feeling they would ask him to help. And he would.

He may have only met Noel briefly, but his deeds tainted him as much as if he had been a Titan himself. He had sworn to protect people and instead he had turned on them, using them as his prey.

Such things would not be stood for.

Robin, ironically, ended up trying to comfort Raven. Starfire was really beyond comforting: she accepted what the evidence and what Raven had sensed pointed to but she could not understand it. Neither could Beast Boy and Cyborg. But while they were shocked, it was clear that Raven was in pain, as she turned away. She tried to keep her aloof pose but Robin saw right through it, and when he walked around to look at her face he could clearly see that she was fighting to hold back tears. Two had managed to fight their way free and had trickled down her cheeks.

"I didn't, I couldn't…" Raven said.

"I know." Robin replied.

"I didn't want to hurt him, but I did. I knew he was hurt. I knew he was angry. But I never suspected, never dreamed, that he could…why…how…oh Noel…" Raven said, her breath hitching.

"I know. I know Raven. But you did nothing wrong. It takes two to make a relationship, and he should have accepted it. But he didn't. And he's done a very bad thing because of that Raven. This is not your fault. It's his."

Raven blinked a few more times, and then the pain vanished from her eyes, replaced with steel. She understood. And she knew what had to be done.

"Titans, listen up." Robin said, turning to his group. "I know you don't want to accept it, I certainly don't myself. Even if you had laid out the pictures in front of me I would not have accepted it. But Raven read his mark. She cannot be mistaken. Noel Collins, aka Savior, has become a killer." Robin said, his words cold. He knew what had to be done too.

And despite their horror and pain, the same look was coming into the eyes of the others. Some things did not need to be said.

"There will be time for grief later. This is now. And now that we know what Noel has done, we have to act. He has betrayed the city and the people he swore he would protect, he has betrayed our cause, and he has betrayed US. As much as it hurts, we have to do what is necessary."

"I'll help." GL said. Robin nodded and then turned away.

"We're going to find him. And we're going to put him down. HARD."

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer they say…but what happens when you cannot tell which is which…?

To Be Continued


	20. Enemies: GUPI

Chapter 20: GUPI

Writer's Note: No, the title of this chapter is not "Guppy". It's an acronym, the letters each mean something. It's up to you to figure out what, but the answer will be revealed at the end of the chapter. Now let's begin. Also, SR, from middle of contemplation scene.

* * *

_"'I'll be judge, I'll be jury' said cunning old Fury  
I'll try the whole cause and condemn you to death."_

Lewis Carroll

* * *

"You sure you can find him?" GL asked Raven as he flew beside her. The Titans had been combing the city for the past hour, hunting for Savior. So far no good, but by the look in their eyes, he had a feeling they'd hunt all night and into the next one if they had too.

"Yes." Raven said. It was all she needed to say in the end too.

So the Titans flew and ran on, following Raven as she hunted for traces of Noel's unique signature.

Oddly, in the end it wasn't that that ended the hunt. It was the scream.

It tore up from the alleyways from seemingly underneath the Titans, though in reality it was some distance away. The Titans froze as they heard it, and then they swiveled and looked at Raven. She had stopped, searching even as her senses registered that someone was in trouble.

"It's him." She said.

The Titans took off in the direction of the scream, running or flying as fast as they could, leaping over a bar called the "Tragedy, Man" and into the alleyway behind it.

What they found sank any remaining hopes the Titans may have had.

There was another body in the alleyway, and while they couldn't see her face, the Titans could see that she had dark hair, and that her neck had suffered severe damage. But that was not the damning thing.

For kneeling over her, one hand on her neck, was Noel Collins.

Savior heard the Titans before he saw them, and, his eyes open in surprise and shock, he looked up as they landed or floated down in front of him.

"Guys? How did…?"

Cyborg was the first to react, as anger, awoken in him via Noel's deeds, his lies, and his betrayal, finally overwhelmed his belief that Noel could possibly be innocent. Now even that was gone.

"YOU BASTARD!" Cyborg yelled, and hit Savior with a full charged sonic cannon blast, blowing him out of the alleyway and across the street. Savior slammed into the opposing wall, his impact lessened (but not much) by the Shimmer.

"What the hell…" Savior sputtered, not believing what had just happened..

"You know what the hell."

Savior turned as Raven appeared beside him, her eyes as cold as ice.

"Raven what's…"

Raven threw some trash cans at Noel. The Shimmer didn't block those, as they slammed into his gut and face, throwing him backwards.

"How could you do this, Noel? How could you let yourself become this?" Raven said, her anger fading briefly as sadness overwhelmed her.

"Raven, what are you talking about…"

"DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME! I KNOW! ABOVE ALL ELSE, I KNOW!" Raven screamed, and nailed Savior with a telepathic bolt, sending him crashing up against the wall again.

"Argggghhhh…have you guys lost your mind?" Savior gasped as he tried to get up.

"No. You have."

Beast Boy rammed into Savior as a bull and slammed him into a wall, before turning into gorilla and throwing him across the street. He bounced off a car and rolled into the sidewalk, groaning.

"They must be being controlled…" Savior said to himself as he tried to get up.

"No."

The word was followed by the distinct sound of Robin's staff extending, and Savior looked up before Robin brought the staff across his face, knocking him up against a wall again.

Savior rolled away from the next strike and blocked Robin's jumping kick with the Shimmer.

"What the hell are you doing!" Savior yelled.

"You know. Or maybe you don't. But believe me Noel, this hurts us a lot more then you. Oh wait no, no it doesn't." Robin said.

And the Starbolts exploded against Savior's back, throwing him forward as Robin spun and hit a giant home-run swing that threw Noel back up against the wall so hard it nearly collapsed. Savior hit the ground and lay there, moaning.

The Titans assembled before their former comrade as he tried to get up.

"What…did I…" Savior groaned, blood dripping from his nose and a split lip.

"You betrayed us Noel. You're no better then your father. No, you're worse." Starfire said coldly. Savior looked up, trying to find some sense, but all he saw was his teammates glaring at him with a look that said they would stomp him into the concrete if given half the chance.

He tried to get up anyway.

A sonic blast, Starbolt, telepathic slam, and Birdarang blew him through the wall and collapsed it on him.

"Enough. I got him." Green Lantern said as he flew over. He had let the Titans do what they had to. It was time to take their comrade away. A green beam shot from his ring and into the rubble, and a few seconds later Savior rose out of it encased in a green ball of energy. He hit it a few times, trying to get out.

"What are you doing guys! What's happening!" Savior said, sounding as if he was on the verge of tears. He looked at the people he had called his teammates and again found nothing but cold rage.

"You're going where you belong now Noel. Enjoy it. You're getting EXACTLY what you deserve." Raven said, and turned away. The Titans followed her lead, turning their backs to Noel and leaving him in the bubble.

"Consider your Titans membership revoked." Robin said, and then he too left Noel. He could hear Noel yelling and banging on the bubble that he was imprisoned in, but he ignored him. He had nothing left to say.

"You want him anywhere?" Green Lantern asked Robin.

"Dump him in the nearest prison that had metahuman holding capacities. I'll make sure they get a reason to hold him." Robin said, and then he hopped up to the nearest roof and was gone.

"If this is a joke it's not funny!" Savior was yelling, banging on the bubble. Green Lantern shook the prison to knock the regained fight out of Savior. He lay on the floor of the bubble and groaned.

"Hey, look on the bright side buddy. Your needs for the rest of your life will be paid for by the government." Green Lantern said, and flew off with his prisoner.

* * *

Robin wished that could be the end. But he knew it wasn't. They may have caught Noel, but now they would have to find forensic evidence and testify in court and all sorts of rigmarole that Robin hated. But he doubted he could get twelve superheroes to take time out of their busy lives to truly serve as the "jury of Noel's peers" that he was afforded by the constitution, and he knew that twelve normal people would have hard time swallowing the idea that Noel was guilty because a half-demon sorceress read his taint on a corpse.

But he'd do it. Betrayal was terrible, but it could also not be tolerated.

"Robin…" Starfire said as she flew beside him. "Why did Noel do this?"

"Star?"

"I still can barely accept that he did this…but WHY? My sister…she was hurt by bad people…but Noel…even with Raven…he was such a kind man! He truly believed in helping people weaker then him! I sensed it! I KNEW it! How could all that be a lie? How could Noel really be a killer?" Starfire asked, her eyes filled with that sad confusion that Robin reckoned was like that of a dog being put to sleep because a family couldn't afford to keep him anymore.

And really, how could he explain how deviant the human mind could be, and how well some people could hide the terrible things they did? Ted Bundy was said by nearly everyone to be a charming, handsome man who no one sensed any danger from (which probably aided greatly in his quest to murder women, all 40+ he was suspected of). Jeffery Dahmer wasn't suspected in the least until neighbors began complaining of the terrible smell coming from his apartment. John Wayne Gacy was a clown at children's parties, a man everyone in the neighborhood liked and trusted. No one would have ever expected him of being capable of his crimes. But he did commit them, and willingly.

Indeed, perhaps being a "superhero" was what made these notions anathema to Starfire, and indeed Robin and all his friends. Villains they fought in these guises tended to be so obvious in their wickedness you half expected them to suddenly grow a mustache to twirl or start singing about how they had to pay the rent. Costumes and special powers tended to suggest a distinct lack of needing to be subtle. And after a few heated battles with these people, battles in which your life was in danger, you tended to forget that true evil was quite capable of hiding behind a smile, even the smile of a man thought to be good, a man who would pat you on the back before they stuck the knife in.

In the end, Robin could give no explanation to Starfire, but three words came to mind.

_Et tu, Savior?

* * *

_

Green Lantern had been flying for about 40 seconds when his com link buzzed.

"Lantern."

"Lantern, we have a problem. We may have to deal with the White Martians again." Batman's stern voice said on the other end of the link.

"WHAT? I thought they were all locked up in the Phantom Zone!"

"We were wrong. We need you immediately, return to the Watchtower at once."

"Bats I have a prisoner…"

"Lantern we need you NOW. Leave him here, we can hold him until the problem is solved."

"Ok ok, I'm on my way. Lantern out." Green Lantern said. "Hey Savior! Guess what! You're getting a rare treat! You'll get to be held in the first-class storage facilities of the Watchtower until you can be properly charged."

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"Right, and all prisons are filled with innocent men." Green Lantern replied, as he changed course and headed for the Watchtower.

* * *

Robin couldn't recall a time when the T-Tower was so quiet. With all the Titans there, anyway.

They had walked in as quiet as mice. And now they were standing there, staring at each other. The anger that had fueled their previous actions was long gone, replaced only with all the messier, harder to deal with feelings awoken by Noel's betrayal and their taking him down. They could very well be dealing with them for weeks.

Raven could be dealing with them forever.

Had Noel just flipped his lid, she might have been able to understand. Raised by a loveless father and a weak, broken mother whom his father treated like dirt, she could see Noel snapping and taking his rage out on people when his quests for love were thrown back in his face. But the fact that she was a catalyst…

The burning was back, but she gave no indication of the pain within her. The pain of what Noel had become due, at least somewhat, of the feelings he had developed for her, and the darker possibility that despite all her efforts that…

The Titans might have stood there for hours, not knowing what to do or say, if they hadn't heard it.

Up on the top floors.

Someone was screaming.

* * *

"I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE. Why don't you turn that ring into a polygraph and use it instead of accusing me!" Savior yelled as Green Lantern hustled him into the holding cells.

"Look buddy, I was there. Your taint was on that body. She sensed it. You committed those crimes. Take my advice: the sooner you admit it and seek help, the better."

"I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!" Savior roared.

"Yeah, keep yelling that. I'm sure that'll make your friends forgive the way you betrayed them and us all. I thought you had potential, Noel. But I guess in the end you were just too weak."

"You mean like Hal Jordan?" Savior snapped back.

Kyle Rayner surprised Savior and himself by rearing back and decking him, knocking Savior backwards into the cell. Green Lantern sealed the door behind him.

"Hal may have lost his way, but he remembered the path in the end. But I doubt you ever will, if you ever were on it in the first place, murderer." Green Lantern spat, and left. He had bigger problems then a psychotic rejected whiner.

Blood trickling from his nose again, Noel sank to the floor, wrapping his arms around his knees.

A screen flickered on in the wall he was facing. A TV. Guess it was automatic. Had to keep prisoners entertained. Or torture them by forcing them to watch Daytime TV, who knew.

Noel stared dully at the screen. A commercial for soap was ending, and just to really rub it in, a commercial for CollinsCorp came on, hucking their so called "charity ball". Noel found himself staring into the face of his father, as he effortlessly lied on how he cared and other people should too by coming to his ball and spending large amounts of money. Most of which would go into Maxwell Collins' pocket. Ah, the wonders of book-cooking.

It figured. His mother was gone. His friends had accused him of murder and beat him up, leaving him in the dirt. Green Lantern had called him a disgrace to all superheroes. And yet his father was still out there, chugging away, not caring a whit about anyone, not even his absent, hurting son, while he made millions on other people's back for no other reason then to have it.

Noel hung his head, the voices of the TV fading to a dull buzz. He wanted to feel angry, or sad, or anything. But he had nothing left.

In the end, he really was his father's son. Hated, alone, and empty.

Noel sat there for a while. He didn't know how long.

Then the TV abruptly turned off, and Noel looked up. He wasn't surprised to see who it was.

Batman looked at the sitting teenager, his mask reducing his eyes to emotionless white slits. He could be looking at Noel in desire for all he knew (hell maybe the constant jokes about his supposed homosexuality were true), his eyes would betray nothing.

"Well, so the Dark Knight cometh. Here to accuse me and heap scorn on me too? Come on, you know you want to." Savior said bitterly.

"Blaming others for your own crimes will not change anything." Batman said, his voice even and toneless, betraying no emotion as always.

"So why ARE you here then? Come to tell me on how I had potential and I pissed it all away? Man, you always looked down on humans as lesser for being unable to control the very things that made them human, but even YOU in the end have failed your own tests. So go ahead and judge me, I don't care any more." Savior said, turning away and staring at the wall.

"Explain."

Savior's eyebrow arched, and he turned around.

"Excuse me?"

"You claim I failed. Please explain." Batman said, as casually if he was asking for the weather.

"You don't know? YOU MUST! Come on Batman, you're supposedly the greatest detective in the world! Your brain is so razor sharp it's somehow dull! Yet you stand there and say I did it! Whatever happened to…"

"Your unique signature was found on the latest body, as well as the body the Titans examined."

"Would that stand up in a court? Come on Batman, in this world, you would, and you, above all else YOU, should NEVER take that at face vault. You believe in due rights for criminals?"

"Yes."

"Then come over here, look me in the eye, and TELL ME YOU KNOW I DID IT."

Batman stood there, staring.

Savior glared back.

Then Batman stepped up to the bars, seemingly without a care, but Noel knew he had all his senses primed and ready to detect even the slightest hint of an attack. Good thing he wasn't planning to attack him. Instead, he stepped up to the bars and looked into Batman's dead gaze.

"Did you kill those women?" Batman asked.

"NO."

For a few seconds they stared into each other's eyes.

"Now tell me I'm guilty."

Batman said nothing. Instead, he turned and walked away.

"That's right, run you coward! Just sit there and judge like all the others! You may be looked apon as something more, but in the end you're just all too human!" Savior yelled after Batman. Batman didn't give him a glance as he left.

If Batman had turned the TV off, he thankfully didn't turn it back on. Noel would have surely smashed the glass.

* * *

Nothing even really repeats in nature.

Those were the thoughts that ran through Robin's head as he ran up the stairs towards the scream that had sounded through the tower. Lightning never struck twice, and all that, but the basic idea was that nature could never really stick to an absolute set pattern. There were always variables. You could throw seeds in a billion places and they may only sprout in one, and the next time in all, and the next in 376, 986, 542 places only. Never really the same.

Which is why, in the back of his head, something nagged at Robin. Whoever had screamed before had screamed again, twice more, since they had heard the first one.

And while Robin's active mind was occupied with running up the stairs to help the screamer, part of it in the back was hinting that something was a tad off.

It wasn't so sure, but it sounded like each scream was the same. No variables. Just the same scream repeated again and again.

Which was impossible. Humans could TRY, but they couldn't make the EXACT same sound over and over. They lacked the vocal control.

But that was just the lesser worry. The stronger one, however, was buried deep in Robin's mind, a thought speaking so quietly that Robin probably couldn't have heard it without a superhero effort, a dancing bit of knowledge staying just out of the reach of his conscious mind.

The idea that…

The scream…

He had…

Heard it…before…

* * *

Savior heard them before he saw them talking amongst themselves. He recognized Green Lantern's voice, and another he thought sounded familiar but couldn't place. He guessed the Justice League had handled the White Martians.

"Give it to him anyway…" the unknown voice was saying as they walked in.

It was Green Lantern, all right, but he was in the back of the group. The second was Batman, silent as always. And Noel finally placed the third voice as the green-skinned human-esque alien with the blue and red costume came into view.

"Martian Manhunter?" Savior said in some confusion.

"You claim your innocence. Fine. Since you were once one of us, we're giving you a chance, once and for all, to prove it. Let Manhunter read your mind." Green Lantern said. "Though I don't agree with it."

"Lantern, when we stop giving any and all humans, no matter how foul the deeds they have commited, equal rights, we are no better then them. That is, among other things, why your race is not damned." Manhunter said in a calm tone. "Noel Collins, I will read your mind, but be warned, there is no way to hide the truth. If you did kill those women, I will know, and your guilt will be absolute and inescapable."

There was a pause.

"Do it." Savior said.

Manhunter reached through the bars, placing one of his hands lightly on Noel's forehead, and his eyes took on a very slight glow.

Batman and Green Lantern watched silently. For 40 seconds no one said anything or moved.

Finally, Manhunter took his hand away as the glow faded.

"He speaks the truth."

Green Lantern's eyes widened.

"WHAT?"

"I searched every crevice and corner of his mind. This child has committed no murders. He does not even have the capacity to kill in cold blood. All he has is an anger born from a terrible sadness. He is innocent, as he claims. Let him out."

Green Lantern pressed the switch that opened the bars, and Savior stepped out.

"But…wait a sec…what…"

"25,875,927 to 1." Batman said suddenly.

The three other men (well, two men and one Martian) turned to Batman, and Savior realized that once Manhunter had declared that Noel spoke the truth he had turned away and went over to a computer, where he had typed in some commands and waited.

"What?" Green Lantern said.

"The exact reason is still unknown, but the theory is that Noel's abilities derive from a beneficial mutation of his nervous system that happened when an unknown element in a kind of white paint combined with the nerve toxin SXZ-12, a weapon designed to kill by causing uncontrollable, harmful mutations. Such things to come out of such a dangerous weapon require great odds. The exact amount of paint, where it was on Noel, where he was standing, how much of the chemical was absorbed by skin, by breathing, if his sweat or saliva or other emissions from the body diluted it in any way, so many factors. I estimated that such an event that occurred had an odds ratio of 6,086,426 to 1, that 1 being Noel. It was such a high number I didn't bother calculating…other ratios."

"So what's the other…" Green Lantern said, and then knew.

"Raven said she read my talent on those bodies, which is why they were so sure I was guilty." Savior said.

"But if your memories show no killings, yet your taint was on the body…" Manhunter continued.

"There's another." Batman finished.

* * *

The Titans stopped when they finally heard the other noise from the scream. That, and saw what they saw.

A chair was facing away from them. All they could see was the arm, clad in some kind of long coat, the hand in a black leather fingerless glove, holding it above their head.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Whirrrrrrrrr.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Whirrrrrrrrr.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"It was a tape recording." Robin thought out loud.

"Bonza, kid. Give the man a prize."

The voice that spoke had a clear accent (Robin later placed it as Australian) as the arm tossed the tape recorder aside. The chair spun around.

"As the saying goes, g'day mates."

Robin never saw what attacked them, indeed, none of them did. The only thing that saved them was the fact that the sudden realization that there was a stranger in the Tower meant potential danger, and they were on their guard.

It saved them, as they all went backwards to avoid the attack and then went out through the window behind them to avoid the follow up attack, reacting only to dodge the attack that was coming so quickly they didn't even see it. Starfire caught Robin as he fell, and Cyborg was not hurt by the fall as he landed on his feet at the base of the tower. A moment later the rest of the Titans joined him

"Who the hell was THAT?" Beast Boy exclaimed as he turned back from the eagle he had become.

"He's coming!" Raven called as the man appeared at the window above them.

"Get ready Titans!" Robin said.

The man leapt down, his long red jacket trailing behind him as he fell. He landed, the impact driving him to his knees.

"I guess it's time for my coming out party. Look, the clowns are here already." The man said as he rose up.

Under his long red jacket he wore black pants (looked like leather as well), a red shirt, and his previously mentioned black gloves. He also wore snakeskin boots with spurs on the back, but that wasn't the most noteworthy thing about him. What was really noticeable was his hair, blood-red and standing straight up in dangerous looking spikes (actually, instead of straight up, they in more of a swept-back style, kind of like Sonic the Hedgehog). That, and the scorpion tattoo on his neck, the painted stinger curling up so that the barbed point was on his cheek. He grinned and cracked his knuckles.

"So, are you going to make a move or just looked at me cockeyed?" the red haired man said.

"Guys…" Raven said in horror. The Titans looked at her.

"I…I'm…it's Noel. What I read…from Noel…I'm reading from him. The Shimmer." Raven said.

As the thought came to the Titans, the red-haired man laughed and put it in words.

"Man, I thought framing your cobber would be hard. Turned out to be as simple as my ol' cheese thought I was. But I'm not. And mates, don't be calling this the Shimmer." The red haired man said, as he held up his palm.

A red strand of energy leapt from it, twirling out and lashing around him. He laughed as the Titans goggled at him. This was going to be fun.

"This, blokes, is the Grimmer." He said, giving a name to his particular talent. "I'm not really one for giving names to things, hard yacka, know what I mean? But after seeing your pansy friend and hearing his name for his wimpy line, well, you'd have to be a drongo not to think of it."

"You killed those women." Robin said.

"And you made us think our friend did it! How dare you! WHY?" Starfire yelled.

"Because it was fun."

The Titans gaped at the man with the talent like Noel's. He chuckled.

"Name's Jack Djinn, mates. But you can call me to what I like to do to the pretty birdies. I am Asphyxiation."

Jack raised his hand, as the Grimmer uncoiled from around him.

"Now, how about we have ourselves a good barney, now?"

And then he attacked.

* * *

So, lemme guess, some of you are about to write "I KNEW it wasn't Noel!"

Well, how many of you can actually claim that, and how many are using the hindsight bias? In any case, I would like to thank the ones that swallowed the bait, hook line and sinker. Good to know I can trick people. That's not an insult, it's a useful literary skill.

So, what does GUPI stand for?

Why, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, of course.

Which is what the Titans believed, and it's going to cost them, as Noel's evil doppelganger is about to show them some special Australian hospitality…

To be Continued


	21. Enemies: Doppelganger

Chapter 21: Doppelganger

Writer's note: As you may have noticed, Jack Djinn, aka Asphyxiation, is Australian. Hence, I will be using a whole bunch of Australian slang. If you get confused on exactly what he's saying, use this handy guide.

www.australiatravelsearch.com.au/trc/slang.html

Now let us begin, shall we? We got us a fight in the big smoke brewing…

Robin had a funny feeling Asphyxiation was not a coward.

Which is why he was very surprised when the man known as Jack Djinn had run away after lashing his energy strand talent, a red-coloured version of the Shimmer called the Grimmer, once. Not wanting to let him get away, the Titans had pursued him with great fervor, across the water and into Jump City.

It wasn't until later that Robin realized he wasn't running. He was luring.

With a fancy flip, Asphyxiation leapt off the roof he was on, landing on the concrete as the Grimmer shot out of his hand and broke his fall (indeed, he would have never jumped out the window back at that tower if he couldn't do that. But he had learned all sorts of tricks that his new talent could perform. Including choking women in a truly delightful way, but he could dwell on that joy later).

A car honked at him. Snorting, Asphyxiation (from here on called Jack) threw out a Grimmer strand, wrapping it around the car and throwing it through the air like a toy. The occupants screamed as they flew, and then stopped as they found their car encased in black energy. Jack smirked and turned to look back at the Titans, Raven setting the car down as the occupants got out and ran for their lives.

"Took you long enough, children. Guess you have enough can-do spirit after all. Now let's have ourselves a good barney, shall we?" Jack said

"Barney? What, you're going to call a purple dinosaur to fight us?" Beast Boy said.

"Ah man, it figures you yanks don't know any Strine! And they called me a nong." Jack said in exasperation.

Behind Jack a large pickup truck honked its horn as it was forced to stop due to Jack standing in its path. Looking annoyed, Jack turned and looked at the truck.

"Man, you blokes are starting to make me spit the dummy." The Grimmer lashed out, ramming into the truck and caving in its front before it sent the truck crashing and flipping off down the road before it smashed into two other cars. It was about then that people realized that something bad was happening and ran away, leaving their cars and anything else behind.

"Now, shall we get on with it?" Jack said, smirking.

Furious at Jack's flagrant disregard for human life, the Titans charged. Jack smirked and smashed the Grimmer into the ground, and the Titans scattered as he ripped it out from under them, sending them sprawling as they were pelted with chunks of concrete.

"C'mon kiddies! Av-a-go-yer-mug!"

"I've got your barney right here, MATE!" Beast Boy yelled as he turned into a T-Rex, stampeding at Asphyxiation. Jack just smirked again and held up his arm, the Grimmer spinning out and forming into a crude hand shape that Jack lashed out, slamming it against the side of Beast Boy's head. To the Titans' shock, Beast Boy actually staggered from the impact, and then Jack whipped the Grimmer about as its "fingers" coiled into a "fist" and rammed into Beast Boy's head, knocking him backwards and onto his back, his tiny forearms he possessed as a T-rex flailing almost comically.

Starbolts exploded at Jack's feet, and he yelled and leapt away with the Grimmer, only to leap into a Robin jump kick. He hit the ground, using the Grimmer to roll and spring up.

Raven ripped a fire hydrant out of the ground and threw it at Jack, but Jack caught it with the Grimmer and threw it right back at her. Then he yelled as Cyborg's sonic cannon blasted him.

"Man, I thought I'd heard some loud earbashers but you lot take the cake!" Jack snapped as he formed a Grimmer shield. Cyborg continued to barrage the barrier, at least until spikes formed on it and it thrust out at him like it was attached to a spring, ramming him against a wall even as a spike pierced through his lower stomach. He fell down, groaning and holding the injury.

"Cyborg!" Robin said.

"Didn't hit anything vital…get him!" Cyborg said. Robin nodded and spun, whipping three metal disks at Jack's head. Three strands of the Grimmer caught them and then formed into a sling-shot, shooting them back at Robin. Robin, by then, had whipped out his staff, and he did his own blocking act as he stopped all three.

"Impressive mate."

The Grimmer lashed out at insane speed, slamming into Robin and throwing him across the street.

"Not so impressive."

Screaming, Starfire dove out of the sky and slammed her fist across Jack's face, sending him flying. But the Grimmer reached out and caught a nearby telephone pole, and Jack spun around it and flew back, ramming his feet into Starfire's face and sending her crashing into a car. Jack landed, chuckling, and then dodged aside as Beast Boy, in the form, of all things, a crocodile, snapped at him.

"Wow, look at this psycho murderer we have here today folks! Real beauty! Today, I'm gonna catch him and chew on him some!" Beast Boy in his own (terrible) Australian accent as he snapped at Jack again. Jack dodged again, now looking angry.

"Oh you're heading up shit creek without a paddle now, larrikin!" Jack snapped, as Grimmer strands lashed out and tied Beast Boy's mouth shut before they lifted him up. "I figured one of you blokes would make a Steve Irwin joke. Let me show you what I'd like to do to him!"

And Jack began violently shaking Beast Boy, much like an abusive father would shake a baby who would not stop crying. Such an attack was both dangerous and extremely disorienting as Beast Boy's brain literally rattled around in his skull, trying to form a coherent thought.

Raven smashed a mailbox against Jack's back, and the killer staggered. Beast Boy finally broke out by turning into a mouse, and then once again turned into a T-Rex, roaring as he lifted a leg to stomp on Jack.

Jack leapt back, avoiding the stomp and throwing out the Grimmer strand. It spun around Beast Boy, wrapping him up. Raven's eyes widened.

"No…"

And then Jack LIFTED Beast Boy up. And not like Noel. Noel, in his testing periods with the other Titans, could barely lift Beast Boy when he was in such a large form, and only for a few seconds. Jack not only lifted Beast Boy, he did so with ease, and then in an even more horrible feat of strength, he turned and threw Beast Boy like he was a rag doll. Beast Boy went crashing into and through the side of a building, now thankfully empty of people who had run away when the fight started.

"Irwin's a wombat. I'm a true blue walloper." Jack said in satisfaction. Then he ducked as Robin swung his staff over his head and turned…

Right into a Starbolt. He flew backwards, as Raven helped Cyborg lift a car and smashed Jack with it like a baseball bat. Jack slammed into a brick wall so hard it nearly collapsed on him, and he fell to his knees.

The Titans assembled as Jack, breathing heavily, got up to his feet.

"Well well, you ankle biters can actually put up a fight. But if you think I'm up a gum tree, you are mistaken." Jack said, and then he smirked as he removed his gloves.

"The gloves are off, mates." Jack said, as he shrugged his long red coat off. Jack cracked his knuckles on both hands, his well-muscled forearms flexing, and then he held both his arms out on either side of him.

A Grimmer strand flew from his right hand.

And from his left hand.

"Ohhh, impressive. But we've seen that trick." Robin said.

"Guys, what you've seen was Noel splitting up his talent…Jack's not doing that. He's manifesting a new one." Raven said grimly. Robin glanced at her.

"You mean…?"

"I think from my observations I can say that his talent is far stronger then Noel's." Raven said.

"Well observed, pretty birdie." Jack said, as the Grimmer energies swirled and formed into twin swords. Swords that were ten feet long. "Now let's dance for real."

Jack swung one of his Grimmer swords at the group, and they leapt backwards to avoid the insane range the weapon had. To swing something so large so quickly would require incredible strength…unless the weapon was composed of an energy you could alter at your leisure. Jack swung at them again, missing once more, and the Titans attacked. But strands of the Grimmer peeled off from the swords and lanced into the ground, and then they threw Jack into the air as he spun like a top. The Titans scattered as he shredded the side of a building, wreckage raining down around him as he landed.

Cyborg fired his cannon, but Jack dodged aside and nailed Cyborg with a Grimmer-bludgeon. Beast Boy charged in as a rhino, but Jack tripped him up and then threw him into another wall. He snapped the strand back and began whipping them around him at high speeds, digging gorges in the ground and nearby walls as he drove back the Titans. Raven threw a car at him with her telekinesis, but he just smashed it aside.

Robin flipped over, throwing a heat disc. Jack, as he expected, whipped it, causing it to explode in his face. He recoiled, and Robin pole-vaulted over to him and kicked him in the face. But Jack went with the impact and flipped backwards, the Grimmer anchoring him to the ground as he flipped back and kicked an attacking Starfire in the face, and then pulled himself back to punch Robin. Robin did a roundhouse and Jack dodged aside and drove his fist into Robin's side, using the Grimmer to heighten the impact. Robin gasped, and then Jack leveled him with another punch.

"ROBIN!" Starfire screamed, flying in as her eyes glowed bright green. Jack flipped away from her Starbolt barrage and lashed out, wrapping one of the Grimmer strands around her. Robin's eyes widened as he grabbed a car with the other one and smashed Starfire through the window of it, and then, even as she screamed, grabbed both ends of the car and crushed it like a tin can around her. He dropped the wreck to the ground, laughing.

"YOU BASTARD-UGH!" Robin screamed as Jack turned around and rammed him into a brick wall.

"Don't yak during the blue, mate. Makes you look like a wally. And suffer their fates."

"YAHHHHHHH!" Cyborg yelled as he charged at Jack from behind. Jack dodged aside and then Raven smashed some chunks of rubble into him. He went down, cursing, as he snapped the Grimmer strands at her. But she melted into the shadows, and he missed. A second later Cyborg blasted him with his sonic cannon again

"Enough of that. I've had it with feeling the noise." Jack said, as he snapped out one Grimmer strand and grabbed Cyborg, and then turned the other one into a buzzsaw that lowered and sawed off Cyborg's right arm at the elbow. He screamed, and then Jack twisted him and drove the buzzsaw into his left shoulder, cutting off his other arm as well.

"Farewell to arms, indeed." Jack said, and threw Cyborg across the street, oil and other spraying in his wake.

A giant tail, with a knob of bone the size of a motorcycle, swung at Jack's side, and he barely managed to get a Grimmer shield up before it drove him into a wall. Beast Boy had become a lesser known, heavily armoured dinosaur known as the Ankleosaurus, for protection. And it proved well as Jack threw the wreckage off himself and, forming a huge hammer, rammed the Grimmer down on Beast Boy's back. The armour took the blow, and Beast Boy charged, swinging his tail. He smashed the ground where Jack had been standing as he leapt away and then almost caught him in mid-air.

"On ya mate, but you forgot one thing…" Jack said as he landed, and then lanced the Grimmer strands into the ground. Beast Boy's eyes widened, and he tried to move, but he had too much bulk as the Grimmer erupted from underneath him, hitting him with so much force he was flipped over onto his back.

"Hard on top means soft on bottom." Jack said, as the Grimmer hooked into a battered skyscraper side and yanked, pulling tons of rubble down on Beast Boy.

"And then there was one." Jack said as he turned to look at Raven. "You know, pretty birdie, it was hard finding enough women who looked just like you, but hey, accuracy is always something I prided myself on. No sense framing someone if you don't do it as best you can."

"You bastard…I'll break you in half for what you did!" Raven yelled, as she threw up her arms. "AZARATH…" Cars began floating up around her. "METRION…"

"Sheila, I ain't bushed yet. I can react." Jack said, and threw out more Grimmer strands that latched onto the vehicles that Raven had levitated up. Raven's eyes widened, and then Jack rammed the cars together. Raven flew up as they crashed where she had just been.

"SURPRISE!" Jack yelled, as he pulled himself up with the Grimmer and over to Raven, right before he let her have it across the face. Raven flew down and bounced along the ground from the impact.

"After all the fakes, wonder what…" Jack said.

Robin's staff rammed against Jack's back. Robin didn't give the lunatic a chance to react: he kept pummeling him as Jack staggered and then fell on his face. Robin lifted the end of the staff and drove it into the ground, but the Grimmer slid Jack along the road like a snake and Robin missed before Jack kicked him in the back. Getting to his feet, Jack formed the Grimmer into eight mace-like weapons and pounded Robin off his feet and into the ground, ripping off his utility belt when he tried to retrieve something from it.

"Not a bad effort mate." Jack said as he retrieved Robin's staff. A quick flex of the Grimmer snapped it in half.

As the other Titans lay in their own ruined states around him, Jack picked up Robin and looked into his bloody and battered face.

"I measure every man I meet, and you have failed to measure up, mate." Jack whispered. "This is not a world in which you can beat me."

Jack reared back his fist.

And the crushed car exploded as Starfire came screaming out, lancing at Jack. Jack dropped Robin and dodged aside as she flew past him.

"Still got some fight in you?" Jack said as he whipped out a Grimmer strand.

Starfire turned, charging twin Starbolts…

And Jack swung the car out, slamming it across Starfire like it was a toy. Starfire flew back from the impact, bouncing off the wall as Jack swung the car up and brought it slamming down on Starfire, driving her into the ground and driving the car in after her.

For a few seconds, there was silence, and then the top of the ruin car glowed red hot before Starfire exploded out of the top…

And then Jack rammed the minivan down on top of her, smashing her back down and crushing her between both cars before the gas tanks exploded, bathing Jack in heat as shrapnel flew past him.

He brushed his shirt off and started walking, leaving Robin behind. He didn't have to walk far to find what he wanted: Starfire's battered and nearly unconscious body.

"On second thought, I'm gotten sick of brunettes. Let's try a redhead."

The Grimmer snapped out, wrapping around Starfire's throat and lifting her up as it cut off her air. Starfire's eyes went wide, and she began clawing at the Grimmer, gagging as her windpipe was closed and began to be crushed.

"You shouldn't have rejected me, pretty birdie. You shouldn't have rejected me." Jack said as he gazed into Starfire's terrified eyes, even as blood vessals began to burst in the pupils as the pressure…

"Hey!"

Jack's ear pricked up at the new voice.

"I hear you Australians think being cut up is bad!"

A green pair of giant scissors suddenly appeared in front of Jack, and before he could react the blades closed on the Grimmer strands, cutting them. Starfire collapsed, gasping for air, as Jack screamed in agony and fell to his knees, jerking like he was having a fit.

"Scream all you want, "Mate". I'm just getting warmed up." Green Lantern said as he flew in, holding his ring out as another pair of scissors formed and cut the Grimmer strand still hanging from Jack's hands. Jack screamed again and threw himself on the ground.

"Arrrgggghhhhhh! AHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD! I'M SO BAD AT THIS!" Jack screamed.

Green Lantern's eyes widened. What?

And then a Grimmer strand flew out of the window of the building behind Lantern, lashing out and around him. Jack had put his hand on the ground to hide the strand as it went into the ground and out towards, and then up, through the building, before it had emerged from the window, with one target in mind.

Green Lantern's ring.

"Sucker."

The coils wrapped around the ring and pulled it off before Lantern could mount a defense. Instantly, all of Kyle Rayner's powers turned off, and he would have fallen had Jack not caught him with the other main Grimmer strand.

"Sorry. You thought that would hurt me, right? Well sorry, that's a weakness that seems to only apply to my lesser. Next time, do your research. Now rack off." Jack chuckled, and then threw Kyle Rayner through the window behind him, sending him crashing through office furniture before he hit a wall and was knocked silly.

Jack withdrew his strand, looking at the ring. He pondered putting it on for a second, then decided not to. Might be booby-trapped, and besides, there was nothing the ring could do that he couldn't. He tossed it away and then turned back to the Titans, who had recovered a bit and were trying to get up. He smirked and used the Grimmer to form an energy scythe.

"Which one first? Two very pretty birdies…" Jack said.

Then he heard someone landing behind him. He stopped, and then dispelled the scythe as he turned around.

"What-da-ya-know! I didn't think you were going to make it mate. Thought I was going to miss you." Jack said.

Savior looked around at the carnage Jack had wrought, and his teeth clenched.

"Why?"

"Why do people do anything?" Jack said. "They just do. Life's short mate, you have to do what you can to survive and to have some fun. But this is a revelation that too many people seem to find as scary as a horde of creep-crawlies. Not me. I do what I want, and I enjoy it. Life has given me gifts, and to that I am grateful."

Jack's grin faded.

"But I don't like other people horning in. And I certainly don't like some wog stealing my powers! I am Jack Djinn, only I! Life chose me to become like this! It didn't choose you!"

"You get sprayed with paint and then something else in New York?"

"What does it matter?"

"Oh it does."

"No it doesn't. This isn't about me, mate. This is about you. You stole my talent. You went on TV and proclaimed yourself to be the one. No kid, you're not. You're just a fraud, a wanna be. I'm the real deal. I am the true blue one! Not you. And for your blasphemy, you had to pay. Killing you would be too easy…but framing you? Heh. My mum always told me I was an idiot. Shows what she knew. I have plenty of brains, and I know enough about how you mates are so easy to trick. I thought making your friends turn on you and then presenting you with their heads would learn ya. But…I am not without flexibility." Jack said, as he cracked his neck.

"You're not special. You're sick."

"What does it matter? I love my life. And I'll love it more when you're gone. There is only one dinki-di here, and it's me." Jack said. "I am Asphyxiation. Who the hell are you?"

Savior and Asphyxiation stared at each other. Savior's hands curled into fists as he looked at Jack's cocky grin.

"I'm Savior."

"Yeah, right. Save them, mate? You won't even be able to save yourself."

"Whatever happens, happens. But I know one thing: this ends tonight, and it ends HERE!" Savior yelled, and charged.

Jack smirked.

"Guess you're a few sandwiches short of a picnic as well as being an inferior. Hooroo, mate." Jack said, and broke into his own run, as the two of them snapped out their perspective energy powers, the strands leaping and snapping around them.

"Noel…" Raven said as she pulled herself to her feet. "It's up to you. If you don't beat him tonight…tomorrow may never come…"

The two crashed into each other. It was time for the superior to be decided.

In the next chapter, we'll learn of Jack's origin, and we'll see which one in the end is truly fit to call himself the king of the castle…

Beware Noel. You can't overpower him. You can't outfight him. You can't outsavage him. All you can do is use your righteous cause and the will that makes you a hero…

But what if that's…not enough…

To Be Concluded


	22. Enemies: Nemesis

Chapter 22: Nemesis

Writer's Note: While I will admit I took an idea or two for this chapter from the trailer from the Matrix Revolutions, I had completed the chapter before the movie came out (which was, at the time of this note, yesterday) and hence had no idea I wound up mimicking it more then I intended. So, just so you know, I really did finish this chapter before I saw Revolutions, and I am only guilty of being oddly accurate or somewhat psychic. In any case, let us begin, for as the tagline of that movie goes, Everything that has a Beginning has an End…

Jack Djinn had always been considered by his mother to be an idiot.

Why wouldn't she? She certainly had to be one to marry his father. When he wasn't drinking he was lounging around watching the telly and collecting the dole, a bludger to the core. When he was drinking he became a mean one, as mad as a cut snake, who beat her until she was half-dead. It was a miracle she had survived, much less not miscarried Jack. Soon, he started beating him too. It didn't matter if Jack was his son. Jack's father was sick inside, and it was a sickness for which there was only one cure: death.

It happened when Jack was six. The moron drove his car off the cliffs and into the oceans. Jack found out later he may have survived the crash only to be eaten by sharks. Somehow, Jack didn't find himself much distressed by that idea.

Not like Jack's mom was any better. She looked down on Jack from the start, and while she did not use her fists, she had a tongue as sharp as any knife. He tried at first, really, but even he as a child soon realized there was nothing he could ever do to please her. She did not want a son. She wanted a scapegoat.

The people at school did the same. He accepted his beatings from the older, bigger boys. After his dad, they were pretty much nothing. And so Jack went on until he hit the age of twelve and suddenly, seemingly overnight, grew into a man. He went from getting his ass kicked by four boys to kicking four boy's asses with ease. Suddenly he was the king of his school. All the boys wanted to be his mates, and all the women wanted to spread their legs for him.

His mom never saw anything of the sort though. She continued her abuse every day and every night. Jack couldn't recall a kind word ever spewing forth from that hatred-infested pit his mother called a heart.

He'd strangled her when he was fifteen. Not out of any real rage or need for revenge. He just decided he'd had enough of her yakking. He wanted some quiet.

She wasn't the first he had choked to death, though. She was the third. The first had been Becky Rupa, a tease if there was any. She'd made promises to him, teased him, but when it came down to the moment she told him no.

That would not do. He was special, and was not to be rejected. When she continued, he'd tried to reason with her, and when she'd started screaming, he'd just tried to get her to be quiet. Before he knew it she was dead.

And it was rather fun.

He'd tried it with another girl three weeks later. Oh yes, this was the real deal. All his blokes were just concerned with sex. This was better then sex. Holding a woman and slowly squeezing until the life flowed out of her mouth and into his…truly the food of a god.

Plus, they had rejected him. If Becky had done it, others would too. No, that would not do. He was special. They had decided that when they had changed him from pawn to king in their school when he had fought back. They had given all the signs that they, such pretty birdies, were there to do as he pleased. And then they rejected him. Not wise. It was the last thing he ever said to any of the women he touched in that way. They should know why they had died. It was their own damn fault, the tarts.

His mom was next, and it was about that time that Jack began to think. He mom thought he was stupid, and his marks at school seemed to support that, but the truth was he had a quite a brain on him, and he didn't want to waste it on school. That just lead to a world filled with people who sucked all the livelihood out of you until you were a robot doing the same thing every day over and over because it was all you knew how to do.

Screw that. Life was about having fun. And Jack had found what he liked to do.

He'd strangled one or two more before he had left his homeland. He liked the place, but it wasn't the greatest land to have fun. He knew that greatness, even like his, could be brought down with numbers (indeed, look at how the scum and the pretty birdies had treated him in school until he had found the key to his ascension! Surely he had been great then, just unaware of it, and look at how they had dominated him! Disconcerting but true. Jack never lied to himself. Bad things happened then). And what he did would eventually be noticed. People were stupid sheep but even a stupid sheep will eventually realize a wolf is eating it.

So he had headed to America, and to the supposed greatest city in the world, New York. He could hide better there, and there were so many different pretty birdies there, which had to be taught not to reject him. Oh, he had had fun, and he didn't think it could have gotten any better.

Then, one day, he had found a certain birdie that he had just HAD to have, right then and there. But when he'd jumped her, she actually fought back. She even had a knife. That didn't bother Jack much: he had been in tons of brawls and knew how to handle himself. But he made a slight mistake (hey, even those like him were entitled to make mistakes!) and she had cut him, slicing a deep wound in his palms. It had hurt, and he didn't like that. So he used her own knife on her a few times before he finished her off with his hands, sticky and coated with his blood. He was wondering what he was going to do when he heard the crash. For a moment he thought the police had arrived and, acting on his first impulse, hid his hands behind his back so no one would see them.

Then that thick, sticky, disgusting stuff was all over him. It was terrible. He'd brought his hands back out, and then, yelling, he started running to find whoever had sprayed this stuff on him and make them pay.

Then more liquid had come spraying on him…

Pain…and darkness…with more pain…

And then he had awoken, and found himself changed. He wasn't aware of it at first though. His first worry was what to do with the body of the pretty birdie.

And that was when they had come, emerging from his palms. He had freaked a bit at first, but when the strands had obeyed his every command, and charged themselves into marvelous tools that he had used to grind the body into hamburger, beyond any type of recognition, he realized he had been chosen. His true greatness had emerged.

But he wasn't stupid. He knew how many of those who had special powers went and tried to rob a bank and got caught by one of those "superheroes". No, Jack wouldn't be doing anything that obvious (but he couldn't resist dressing up some. I mean, he had spiked blood-red hair now! You couldn't just walk around in a suit with that kind of 'do! You needed something special!). He would bid his time, train himself, learn the true extent of his new powers…and of course, show the pretty birdies the folly of rejecting him.

And what powers they were! Jack realized he could have more fun then he had ever dreamed! The things the strands could do to the pretty birdies were beyond any weapon or tool he could buy…but he still found the best way was to slowly steal their breath. And the strands could do that in such a marvelous way too. Jack was happy.

Until he turned on the TV one day and saw a group of young wankers in Halloween costumes fighting some slime creature. That was fine. But what had made him sit up and take notice was the kid in white clothes and hair, who was using HIS talent.

Jack couldn't believe it. Some child had taken his greatness! HIS talent! Jack had been quite mad at the time, and would have run over to wherever the kid was at the time and strangled the bastard on the spot had he not seen a cop car passing by under the window he had been ready to jump out of. So he had waited. And he had started thinking.

A quick death was too good for this inferior who dared steal his talent, his gift. He had to be something else. Jack didn't have much of an idea besides that, but it kept him going long enough.

He started spying on the child, who he soon learned was called Savior. What a pretentious name. He also called the gift that he had stolen from him the Shimmer. Stupid. But it had inspired Jack to come up with his own name. His gift sure didn't shine though. Instead, it brought a terrible, grim fate to whoever he chose. It certainly made things grimmer for people, and the name had come naturally.

His other name, well, he'd wanted something fancy, something that people could remember. Someone called the Choker would be forgotten in a week. But Asphyxiation…it was a word that people could remember, at least in the sense that they had no idea how to say it, pronounce it, or know what it meant (it was a fancy way of saying choking someone).

But the real pearl of knowledge had come when Jack had followed Savior and that dark haired pretty birdie called Raven when they fought some nutball with a sword. They'd won, but Jack didn't much remember that. What he remembered was Savior kissing the birdie, and the way she had turned away from him. He'd been quite upset.

Perfect. Jack had his scheme. And as for the icing on the cake, one stakeout of that T building where the kids lived had revealed that Savior was leaving. So Jack had left too, and found the first one that night. Pretty birdies that looked like the one Savior was sweet on, the one that rejected him.

When Savior kept going out, Jack almost thought he was on to him in some way. But he wasn't. Jack had followed him a few times, just to see (hell, one of his teammates had the same idea, Jack had almost tripped over him one night. It had bothered Jack at first, but then he had realized that if that kid in the green, red, and yellow suit was following Savior, it meant they were suspicious, and his plan was working) where he was going. He either hung around in a depressing café or went all over certain parts of the city as if looking for someone. And while he was doing that, Jack was hunting down other pretty birdies that looked like Raven and teaching them not to reject him. That one called Blackfire was just a bonus: he'd taken a look at her hair and the fact that he had never killed an alien and figured "What the hell". Though she hadn't died. Blast. Maybe he should have broken her spine as well, but that defiled his art. Oh well, couldn't win them all, he supposed.

When Lantern had shown up, Jack had a feeling the endgame was at hand. He'd guessed correctly that the Titans would go after Savior soon. He had the tape recorder ready, and he knew where Savior was. He'd found the last pretty birdie (indeed, he was getting a bit sick of killing women who all looked the same. He liked variety) he needed and killed her, taking care to record a scream. Then he'd headed for the alleyway behind the building where the thief was at the moment, dumped the body, waited until the Titans came traipsing along looking for their comrade, and then he had played the tape, turned back into his "old self", a form he hardly if ever assumed any more, and walked out the alleyway. Sure enough, Savior had come out to investigate and the Titans had found him just as he was examining the body. And they had turned on him spectacularly. Listening to him plead for mercy and understanding as they had beaten the crap out of him was almost as sweet as the last breath of one of the girls. The fact that one of the women, the very birdie that Savior was so sweet on, had somehow confused his talent for the inferior's made it even better.

And once that was done, all Jack had to do was head back to that building shaped like a T and wait. The kids had come back, and he was ready to finish up his plan. He'd taken away his allies and friends in spirit, and now he was going to take their lives. Left alone, he'd realize the folly of stealing the talents of those greater then him.

And his mom said he was dumb.

Well, he wasn't dumb, but he wasn't psychic either. Things hadn't gone quite as well as he had supposed: the Titans were still alive. Well, no matter, Jack could adapt. He'd beaten them into oblivion, a true showing of how great he was, and now all that stood in his way was the inferior who had stolen his talent.

Fine then. He'd kill Savior too. And then he could get back to his fun. That was all that mattered in life, in the end. Surviving, and having fun.

His dad, the bastard, had given him one good piece of advice. He had told him to look into the eye of every man he ever met in combat, and take his measure. And if the man didn't measure up, you made him pay for it.

Time to take the measure, and then extract the payback. He knew it would be that way.

After all, he was Jack Djinn. He was Asphyxiation. 

He was special.

And now he was running, lashing the Grimmer about, meeting Savior step for step with a big grin on his face. This would be a real rip-snorter.

Savior snapped out his fist.

Jack did the same.

The two blasted away from each other as both their punches connected, their respective talents adding great impact to their blows, so much that the two flew back like they had been hit by 18-wheelers.

Both their strands of energy lanced out, grabbing hold of the nearest wall and pulling them in, crouching against the buildings, before the strands threw them back at each other. The two met again with tremendous impact.

But this was a dual strike that Jack won, because he had two strands to Savior's one, and hence he could put more pizzaz behind his shot. And he did, as he hit the ground, driving Savior into it. Pieces of broken concrete flew out of the hole.

A Shimmer strand lashed at Jack, and he pushed himself away. Savior flipped up as he whipped the Shimmer around him. Hmmmm, the inferior had learned how to form a last minute barrier with his talent over the part of his body that was about to hit whatever, at the last second, to lessen the impact. Not bad. Maybe he'd last an extra twenty seconds.

Savior lashed the Shimmer at Jack. Jack used the Grimmer to flip away and block the second strike. Savior split his main strand into smaller ones but Jack did the same with one of his, fending off the blows as he snapped out the other strand and rammed it into Savior, smashing him into the lobby of a building before he twisted and pulled Savior through the walls on the side. He let Savior go and he tumbled across the street, before he used the Shimmer to stop himself and lift himself up.

"Hey mate…" Jack said as he formed a Grimmer blade. "THINK FAST!"

Jack sliced the blade at the Shimmer strands. He wondered how many sucker punches he could get in before the kid recovered from the terrible pain that overcame him whenever his stolen talent got cut (and if anything, that showed that the child was inferior to him. Nothing happened to him when the Grimmer got cut, and he'd tried every kind of blade he could find. Maybe it was a weakening that resulted from his talent being stolen. Jack didn't know, or really care).

The answer, was none. The Grimmer blade connected and then bounced off the Shimmer. Jack's eyes went wide.

"Gee-whiz…" he said, and then Savior attacked, lashing the Shimmer out and ramming Jack into a wall, before it wrapped around him and Savior threw him through a second story window.

"I guess your talent can't cut my talent." Savior said.

"Your TALENT, mate? You mean your little bit of thievery!" Jack said as he reappeared at the window Savior had thrown him through. He had lost a bit of the cocky arrogance he had been projecting. "Well, maybe the Grimmer can't cut your inferior clothesline, but I'm sure it can cut YOU!" Jack yelled, as the Grimmer flowed together above his hands, forming an axe with a blade as big as Jack. Jack leapt out of the window, swinging downward. He missed, cracking the concrete open for several feet, and then swung at Savior again. Savior leapt back, forming a staff with the Shimmer, and blocked the blow. Jack spun and tried a decapitating swing, but Savior blocked that too. He didn't have any experience in fighting with weapons, but when the weapon was made of an energy that followed your every command, you could very easily look and act like a master.

And Savior did his best to do just that as he blocked another axe swing and jammed the pole between Jack's legs, tripping him up. He missed the follow up strike as Jack's Grimmer pushed him up and away, and Jack snarled as he reformed the axe into his own staff.

"I'll show you Darth Maul, mate!"

"I see your Darth Maul and raise you Exar Kun." Savior said, as his staff split into twin rods of energy. They did kind of look like lightsabers.

Savior blocked Jack's spinning attack and slapped Jack across the face with the rods. Jack flipped back and threw the rod he was holding at him at the end of a strand. Savior jumped to the side, flipping away. He ran in as Jack retrieved his weapon and the two exchanged several blows, neither getting the upper hand.

Jack got the upper foot though, as he followed a failed strike by kicking Savior in the groin, causing him to double over.

"All's fair in a street fight, mate." Jack said, grabbing Savior's hair and ramming his knee into his face, sending the white-haired teenager stumbling back as his nose began to gush blood. Jack reformed his Grimmer into a scythe again and swung, but the Shimmer intercepted the weapon and yanked it forward, pulling a surprised Jack. He tripped over Savior's outstretched foot and fell face-first to the ground.

Savior took a few steps back as he readied for the next assault, as Jack chuckled, pushing himself up, blood now dripping from his nose as well.

"You learn fast, mate. Now, let's get serious."

The Grimmer scythe reformed and swung so quickly Savior nearly got cut in half, and he had been ready for an attack. He formed a sword with the Shimmer and blocked the next blow, and the next. Jack took too long with his next swing and Savior slammed the sword (unsharpened for a moment) across Jack's face. But Jack used the Grimmer to roll with the blow and slammed his heel across Savior's face, the sharpened spur on his boot laying open Savior's cheek to the bone. Savior gasped and stepped back as blood ran down his face, staining his white shirt red.

"Getting it yet?"

Grimmer strands lashed out, ripping at Savior with barbed hooks. Savior blocked them with shields, but the sheer viciousness of the attack forced him backwards. Whooping with joy, Jack grabbed up a nearby car, slammed it onto the ground in front of him, and leapt on it. _Now what's he doing?_

Grimmer strands shot out, wrapping around the wheels of the car even as a new batch flew together in front of the car and condensed into…a pair of bulls?

Savior gaped at the Grimmer-formed animals. They weren't picture perfect, but they were clearly bulls. It was almost as good as Green Lantern's ability to manifest objects. But Savior had never been able to make something so detailed. His creations were crude shapes that only resembled the objects he was trying to form in passing. So how in the hell could Jack do that unless…

Oh no…

"RIDE 'EM COWBOY!" Jack yelled, and then his Grimmer bulls charged at Savior, the Grimmer also turning the wheels of the car so that it acted as a chariot.

And Savior realized the point of the previous attack: to back him against the wall.

The wall the bulls drove him through as he whipped up a last second shield before Jack rammed into him. Rubble flew and collapsed as the bulls drove him backwards, wrecking everything in their paths. Savior finally leapt back to get out of the way.

And then the bulls reformed into a giant leg and boot that kicked out, catching him and sending him smashing through the ceiling and out the window on the higher floor, flying out and slamming into the building on the other side of the street. He fell, landing on another car. He coughed as blood flew out of his mouth.

"He's stronger then me…" Savior realized. Jack's mutation had gifted him with even greater abilities then Noel. But how? What did he do, or not do…

"Still alive, kid?" Jack said as he walked out of the hole he had made in the hotel wall. Savior got to his feet, through his legs were unsteady. Blood flowed freely from a dozen cuts.

_THINK, Noel. You can't match him in power. You'll have to use a better strategy._

But the heat of battle was not the best breeding ground for thinking, as Jack lanced a Grimmer blade at Savior. Savior barely dodged, the blade coming so close it sliced off a portion of Savior's jacket.

Jack laughed and spun, pulling the strand back like a rope, and in that movement Savior had an idea. Jack spun on his feet as he prepared to throw another impaling strand…

And the Shimmer snapped at his heels, twin hard but precise strikes that snapped off Jack's spurs on his boots. Only one flew up in the right direction though, but that was all Savior needed.

Jack finished his spin, as his spur flew up…

And the Shimmer snapped out again, striking the spur and sending it flying into Jack's face. Jack recoiled violently as the blades bit deep.

Then he stopped, looking back at Savior, smirking.

"Not a bad trick mate." Jack said, as he reached up and pulled the spur from where it was stuck in his forehead. Blood riveted down his face, but he just grinned as he tossed the spur aside.

Savior cursed inwardly. He had hoped to get a vein in Jack's neck, or maybe take out an eye, and all he had gotten was a flesh wound. Well, come what may…

"Nothing like the taste of a man's blood to motivate him…" Jack said as he started taking a step and found he couldn't move. He looked down to find the Shimmer wrapped around his ankles.

"Oh, what's this? You think this will cause me trouble? It just keeps your hands occupied!" Jack laughed as he looked up, prepared to give Savior another thrashing. But his jest faded when he saw nothing was coming out of Savior's hands. He looked down again. But the Shimmer was…

Exploding out of the ground and ramming into his face, even as the other strands pulled his feet out from under him. He hit the ground and the Shimmer strands rammed down onto him, raining down blows. Growling, Jack knocked them away with a Grimmer lash. What the hell just happened!

Savior was jumping at him. He moved and Savior leapt past him. Perfect! He'd have a clear shot at…

The Shimmer strand coming out of his back. It rammed into his gut, robbing him once more of precious air, and then Noel whirled and slammed a Shimmer-bludgeon across his side, sending him flying across the street.

He stopped himself and turned himself around with the Grimmer. His cockiness was gone. Jack was mad now.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you could project your strands out of any part of your body as well!" Savior mocked, and thrust the Shimmer out at Jack. Jack growled and returned with the Grimmer, and the two strands interlocked. But the Grimmer overwhelmed the Shimmer, wrapping around it and heading back for Savior…

Except two more strands were breaking out of the ground, wrapping around the back of Jack's head, and pulling him face first into the street with a sickening crack.

Savior retracted the Shimmer, waiting to see what Jack did next. What he did was start laughing as he got back up, his forehead cut having split open even more, his face a crimson mask of blood.

"Not bad…not bad…but don't think you've won because you got me a bit aggro mate. I'm still quite bright eyed and bushy-tailed. If anything, this proves you need your stolen talent to do anything. I could beat you without mine."

"Yeah, right."

"Oh, you don't think so? Well, if you actually have a set of balls, put yours away. I'll put mine away, see, already did." Jack said as the Grimmer retracted back into his hands and vanished. "Just you and me. Like the way we would have in the old days."

Savior arched an eyebrow, and then retracted the Shimmer.

"All right mate, put up your…HAH!" Jack yelled, throwing the handful of dust he had picked up off the ground into Savior's face. Savior recoiled as his eyes were filled with the stinging debris.

"All's fair in a street fight, grommet!" Jack yelled as he punched Savior in the face, then in the gut, and then rammed his elbow into Savior's back. Savior fell to his knees and Jack kicked him in the head. Savior rolled away and kicked at Jack, but Jack dodged the kick and stomped on Savior's hand, and then grabbed his hair and kneed him in the side of the head again. Savior's vision swam, and then Jack yanked him up via the hair and nailed him with his best right hook, sending Savior stumbling backwards several feet before he collapsed.

"You're just a punk kid, mate. I'm better then you'll ever be. You took my talent. Well, I don't know where it is in you, but I'm willing to experiment…" Jack said as he stepped up to Savior.

Savior swept his leg out, but Jack saw it coming and jumped up…right into a Shimmer-ram, throwing him backwards. Savior shot out another strand and rammed Jack into the nearest wall.

"All's fair, indeed." Savior said, as more Shimmer strands extracted and flew around Jack, trying to crush the wind out of him.

"You said it mate." Jack replied, and then he managed to yank one arm free. Then he held something up.

A switchblade.

Where had he gotten it? Did he have it in a pocket somewhere? Well, the where didn't much matter as much as the why, and that was blatantly obvious, as Jack twisted his hand and cut the Shimmer strand. Pain exploded in every nerve in Savior's body, and he screamed. He could raise no defense as Jack pulled the Grimmer out again and rammed the end into Savior, sending him flying down the street.

"Enough." Jack said as Savior bounced along the ground. He pulled the Grimmer strands back, prepared himself, and then shot them out again.

Savior finally stopped and was getting up when the strands shot at him. He tried to shoot out his own strands…

Too late.

The twin lines pierced through Savior, driving through both his shoulders. Instead of a scream, all this got was a surprised gasp from Savior.

Jack smirked, and yanked, pulling Savior back in like a hooked fish. Savior only got a sense of rushing before Jack nailed him with a Grimmer-fist as Savior flew towards him.

Savior flew backwards in a twisting, bone-breaking spiral that only ending when he crashed into a building and flew out the other end, bouncing a few times before he finally came to a stop. He did not get up.

In agony, Noel was only faintly aware of approaching footsteps until Jack pulled him up, gripping him easily as he lifted Noel, looking into his eyes.

"I measure every man I meet, inferior, and you have failed to measure up." Jack said, mad joy dancing in his eyes. "This is not a world in which you can beat me."

Jack raised Noel above his head as he aimed his other arm. The Grimmer began forming blades, hooks, and other sharp implements of death on and along Jack's arm. This would truly be a killer punch.

"Time to die, child."

The Starbolt and explosive disc hit a second before the sonic cannon blast did, exploding on and around Jack. Dust flew, and was eventually dispersed.

Jack blinked, and then turned and looked in annoyance at the gathered Teen Titans. He had managed to form the death tools on his arm into a decent shield at the last second. He snorted and dropped Noel.

"Didn't you have enough?" Jack asked, looking at the battered teenagers. Cyborg and Robin barely looked like they could stand up (indeed, while Cyborg's arms were back on, the repair job looked very shoddy), but they stood anyway, defying him.

He didn't like that.

"You want Savior? You go through us." Robin said, twirling his replacement staff.

"Oh well sure I-HAH!" Jack yelled as he suddenly leapt at the group, flying into them and driving them apart with lashing Grimmer whips. Robin leapt in, trying to get inside the strands, grabbing Jack by the throat as he tried to perform a paralyzing nerve pinch. But sweat and blood made his hand slip, and before he could correct himself Jack had grabbed him with the strands. Yelling, Robin twisted and kneed Jack in the face. Jack recoiled, and then with a laugh lifted Robin up above him and leapt, kicking and throwing Robin at the same time, sending him flying up and crashing in through a window on a building.

Starbolts exploded around him and he turned as Starfire rammed into him. He flipped to the side, grabbed Starfire in his clutches, and drove her face into a wall before he dragged her alongside it, ripping the wall apart with her body before he threw her into another building.

Snarling and roaring, Beast Boy, in the form of another mystical beast, the chimera, a monster with the head of a lion and a goat, and the tail in the form of a snake, leapt on Jack, driving him to the ground. His snake-tail snapped at Jack, but two heads proved to be worse then one as Jack grabbed both with the Grimmer and slammed them together. He shoved Beast Boy off him, leapt up, grabbed him, and then flipped Beast Boy over him and slammed him head-first into the concrete so hard Beast Boy was buried all the way up to his hind legs in it. The legs vanished, leaving an unconscious Beast Boy in the crater.

Pieces of black energy encased rubble flew at him. Jack slashed them into smaller pieces, as another sonic cannon blast flew by his side. Cyborg cursed and tried again, but his gun malfunctioned. Laughing, Jack reached out and grabbed it with the Grimmer, ripping the arm off again as Cyborg screamed. Laughing merrily, Jack pulled off the other arm and then slashed one of Cyborg's legs off at the knee, before snapping back another strand and smashing it through the side of Cyborg's head, ripping out wires and chips as Cyborg collapsed.

"STOP HURTING MY FRIENDS!" Raven screamed, and the ground literally exploded all around her, throwing Jack into the air. She threw a car at him, but he tore it in half with the Grimmer and then lashed her with it, sending her flying across the street as he landed back on the ground.

Smirking, Jack approached, as Raven tried to get up. The burning was back, building within her. Oh no, not…

"ARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Raven screamed as her cloak suddenly flared up and became as a living thing. She turned, looming over Jack, as her eyes glowed bright red. Jack had stopped.

"Well, that's interesting." He said.

"I'll show you the meaning of cruelty!" Raven snarled in a voice that wasn't her own. Laser beams shot from her eyes. Jack barely dodged them, the explosion searing his back.

"Well, looks like you have new tricks. Better not learn them!" Jack yelled, and then to Raven's great surprise he leapt RIGHT AT HER, Grimmer strands lashing. Raven lashed out with her own living shadow strands, and Jack disappeared in the darkness that now dwelled around her. Raven screamed and shrieked as a furious battle was waged, one that no one could see.

And then she screamed, the red shine fading from her eyes as Grimmer blades tore from within her cloak, ripping it off and tearing up her back. She started to fall as the shadows faded, as Jack reappeared, as he spun and slashed Raven across her face and body with the Grimmer. She hit the ground, bounced once, and was still as blood began pooling around her.

"You ain't dead yet, pretty birdie. I made sure of that. I'm going to finish you in my own special wa-ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" Jack screamed as Noel slashed Jack across the back with the Shimmer, cutting him deeply. He dropped to one knee as his own blood began flowing down his legs. He turned, looking at Noel.

"You struck when my back was turned." Jack said, more incredulous that Noel had actually done it then at the actual act.

"All's fair in a street fight, mate." Noel replied.

Screaming, Jack leapt to his feet, slashing at Noel. Noel dodged the slash but didn't dodge the strike, as he flew backwards. He grabbed at the ground and stopped, and then threw himself back the way he had come, pistoning into Jack. The two flew back and crashed through another building, and then they bounced off the wall behind it as the two fought and grappled in mid-air, Shimmer and Grimmer strands flying everywhere as the two traded physical blows as well. They bounced off the next wall, going higher, and again, and again, as they waged a deadly aerial war. The last ricochet off the wall sent them flying high into the air, as Jack and Noel punched, kicked, slashed, struck, rammed, and did whatever they could to the other as they flew up into the sky.

And ultimately, the winner was Jack, as he floored Noel with a vicious uppercut and then grabbed him with the Grimmer.

"You just don't get it! You can't win! You are an inferior! Your talent is weak and pathetic! Mine is bonded to my very being, my essence, my very BLOOD, you foolish child! It will forever be superior to yours! But you just can't seem to accept that! Very well! If I can't drive the idea into your thick head, I'm going to drive your body straight into the ground, and all the way down to hell!" Jack bellowed, as the Grimmer wrapped more firmly around Noel.

Jack flipped and put himself in free-fall, holding Noel in front of him as he headed back down towards the city, the air whistling around him as his eyes gleamed with madness and the anticipation of victory.

The impact shook the whole city.

Even a fight of that magnitude couldn't drive everyone away, but the amount of people who would have been in a subway was far less when Noel and Jack came crashing through all the way down to the lower tunnel. Rubble rained down, sending pedestrians running for their lives. Up at the toll booth, a subway operator on break got on the radio and warned all the trains to stay away. Regretfully, he couldn't get through to one until later, and by then the train was too close to suddenly stop. The operator advised the driver to go as fast as possible instead: the tracks, despite the impact, were free of rubble on the lower level, most of it having landed on the higher tracks, and if they went quickly they could hopefully zip past any problems.

Problems like the red-haired man who rode the rubble down and stepped off onto the lower floor, looking around. He could use a kill right about now…

The sound of rubble shifting got his attention, and he turned. He hated the fact later, but his jaw dropped.

"Bugger…" Jack said as Noel came crawling out of the rubble. "Are you immortal?"

Noel wasn't. He KNEW he should be dead too. Even with the Shimmer forming the thickest shield he could make, using all the "material" that Noel had at his command, he was certain he was going to die. But the Shimmer had held out after all. Amazing.

And, strangely, he may finally have an answer. Jack had said, in his mad rant, that his particular "strand" talent was bonded to his blood. That made sense. Noel's flowed from a mutated nervous system…what if Jack's flowed from a mutation of both his nervous and circulatory systems? It would explain how his talent was much stronger and had more material to work with, as well as why Jack had twin strands to Noel's one (he could send the Shimmer out of both his hands as well, but he was only splitting up his talent. Jack had two separate strands, giving him at least twice the material and strength Noel possessed).

Noel didn't know what he was going to do with this. As the Australians might have said, he was totally bushwhacked. He was running on fumes. But he wasn't giving up, as he assumed the combat position.

Jack just stared at him.

"C'mon Jack. I don't think your measurement quite fit." Noel said, and lashed out with the Shimmer.

The Grimmer whacked it aside, and then wrapped around Noel.

"Yes, I think it did, mate." Jack said.

He swung, ramming Noel into one of the subway walls, and then yanked him upward and rammed him into the ceiling. He spun around, ramming Noel into another wall, then driving his flailing body into the nearby escalator so hard Noel broke through the black steps. Finally, Jack spun Noel around his head and threw him across the subway terminal. He crashed through the elevator and a thick pillar of stone before he hit the other side, bouncing off the wall and crumpling in a heap.

"Ohhhhhh, I FELT the bones break on that one. That must HURT." Jack said as he walked over.

In an agony as great as any produced by his Shimmer getting cut, Noel tried to get up, even though he knew he was finished. He had nothing left. Jack was simply too strong.

What had happened? It seemed like only this morning Starfire had been giving him the ripped and torn-up jacket he was now wearing, while worrying her blood could turn into metal.

Wait…

"You know mate, I'll give you credit. Maybe you're not quite an inferior." Jack said as Noel finally managed to stand, leaning against the wall for support. "But you're not an equal. I'm the special one here. I'm Asphyxiation. And I think it's time for you to learn just why."

The Grimmer lashed out. Savior, finding a strength he never knew he possessed, even when he had been fighting the Troika an eternity ago, lifted his hands and shot out the Shimmer. The strands entangled, but the Grimmer quickly overwhelmed the Shimmer and continued towards Noel.

_Iron is in the blood…iron is a metal…what can…_

"I measure every man I meet, and you have, over and over again, failed to measure up. This is not a world in which you can beat me, Savior. It's over. G'day and goodbye mate." Jack said.

_Bloodironmetal…_

_Bloodironmetal…_

The Grimmer slipped around Noel's throat. Noel redoubled his efforts, but the strand was unrepulsed, as it started to draw tight.

_Bloodironmetal…_

_Bloodironmetal…_

_Blood…has iron…which is a metal…which is a…_

Noel thrashed, trying to get some air, and then saw it.

The subway electricity line.

_CONDUCTOR!_

Digging deep down into the darkest parts of him, Noel found one last burst of strength to rip the Grimmer from around his throat, pulling the red strand back as it and the Shimmer fought for dominance.

"Hey Jack, your talent is superior…is it insulated?"

And Savior threw his Shimmer at the line, the Grimmer still entwined in it, as Jack's eyes went wide in surprise.

"What in the name of bush week…"

The strands struck the line.

The air filled with a crackling as electricity, finding an outlet, traveled out of its prison and into its new home, as it conducted along Jack's strand and right into Jack's body.

Jack screamed as the voltage poured into him, making him thrash and dance as he began to smoke. Noel watched, safe, as his own talent kept him protected from the deadly voltage, a trait that only it seemed to possess.

It's not strength that always matters. Sometimes it's strategy.

Jack screamed as his very blood started to boil…and then Noel cut the connection, freeing Jack from the current. Jack staggered and then collapsed, still somehow alive but without any fight left in him. It had been burned away.

For a moment, there was silence, as Noel took a few deep breaths. Then his ears caught something.

Jack groaned as Noel walked over, his muscles still twitching. Noel looked down at the man who had killed dozens of women, nearly killed Blackfire, and hurt his friends and himself, with intents to kill them too, all because he had felt Noel had stolen "his" talent.

Some people are sick inside, in the abyss of a broke mind. And some are sick in a worse way. Jack Djinn was one of them. He wasn't just sick in the mind. He was sick in the heart, sick in the soul, and there was only one cure.

Noel reached down with the Shimmer, grabbing Jack. The Grimmer did not respond to protect him. Maybe the electricity had scrambled it somehow, leaving Jack unable to call on its powers as Noel pushed him over to the track.

He slid Jack out and positioned him so that his head was dangling over the edge, using Shimmer restraints to keep him down. The sound Noel had heard was getting louder. The train the subway operator had ordered to keep going was approaching.

"Mate…what are you doing…" Jack whispered.

Noel was silent, looking down on Jack. Jack turned his head, and he froze, seeing the light. Then, amazingly, he looked back at Noel…and SMILED.

"You won't do it kid. I know your breed. You're soft. You can't kill me." Jack said.

Noel didn't answer.

"Kid, I know you won't do it, so stop with the pretending…really…hey mate…"

"You think I can't kill you?" Noel said suddenly. Jack's eyes widened as he saw the cold rage reflected in Noel's eyes. "I was raised by a man who destroyed anyone who dared wrong him, much less hurt him. You killed innocent women, you hurt my friends and the woman I love, all because you can't admit how small and worthless you really are. Kill you? I can kill you. I'll simply tell my allies it happened during the fight. After what you did to them, what you made them think, they'll be all too eager to believe me. So yes, I can kill you in cold blood. Hell I'll do it WITH RELISH."

And for the first time in forever, Jack Djinn's eyes showed fear, as the train bore down on him.

"But I won't."

The Shimmer pulled Jack's head back onto the floor, saving him from his impending decapitation.

"You see, unlike you, I can resist my baser urges, the ones that you will forever be a slave too. I can kill because I know it's the right thing in my heart, but I choose not too because it's the wrong thing in my society. The society I protect from scum like you. You think you're special, ASS-FIX-E-AYE-SHUN?" Noel said, drawing out the word. "No. But that doesn't mean you should be killed."

The train was seconds away.

"But you have to be punished."

The Shimmer reached out, grabbing Jack's arms and lifting them above his head. Jack's eyes went wide again.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"I said I can resist my baser urges. I didn't say totally." Noel said as the Shimmer locked Jack's hands over the edge of the track.

"NO! NO, MATE, NO!" Jack screamed.

"Sing for me, pretty birdie."

The train drove past, the driver looking incredulously at Savior as he drove past, as the train chopped both of Jack's hands off at the wrists. Jack's scream rang throughout the station, but the sound of the passing train swallowed it up.

Noel let Jack go, as Jack tried to curl into a fetal position, his stumps squirting blood. Noel reached around him, sending the Shimmer into the stumps and typing off the veins to the best of his ability, stopping the bleeding. As Jack, openly crying from the pain now, continued to writhe, Noel flipped him over and stepped on his chest, looking down on him.

"I may not measure every man I meet, but you have, truly and without doubt, failed to measure up. Welcome to the new world, JackAss."

The Shimmer lanced down, knocking Jack Djinn into a blissful oblivion.

It would be the last blissful moment he had in a long time.

Noel tied Jack up with some metal rods he pulled out of the wall, took three steps away from him, and then finally collapsed as his body finally ran out of every single bit of energy it had, truly and utterly this time. Noel leaned against the wall, his vision swimming and fading. He wondered if he was dying. He concluded it wasn't a bad way to go.

Darkness swam in his eyes. Guess it was his time. He just wondered…

"Oh Noel…"

His vision focused a bit. It wasn't darkness. It was Raven. She had appeared out of the shadows and was now kneeling by him. She looked at the beaten Asphyxiation and then back at Noel.

"You did it, Noel. You gave us back tomorrow."

"The others…"

"They're ok. I healed them. Let me heal you…" Raven said as she placed her hand against Noel's bloody face and began taking away his pain. Noel felt the agony and the exhaustion sliding away. He brought his hand up and placed it against Raven's. She tensed.

"Didn't know for sure…know now…" Noel said, as he brought his other hand up and cupped Raven's cheek. It sent shockwaves through her, of both the best and the worst kinds. She knew what he was going to say.

"Noel…" she whispered. Oh how she wished she could…

The burning was back. No. She couldn't. Now more then ever. She drew away, and as Noel's eyes filled with realization and then pain, a pain she couldn't take away, she disappeared back into the shadows.

Noel blinked. Only three more seconds to say three words…

But not now. And maybe not ever.

Noel sat on the wrecked subway floor, once again feeling empty and alone.

"It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Cyborg said, as medics, watched by a full contingent of SWAT members and the recovered Green Lantern, loaded the unconscious Jack Djinn into an ambulance. He was propped up against a wall, unable to walk. He considered himself lucky. His biological components were mostly undamaged. Mechanical parts could be fixed.

Green Lantern floated over.

"I'm going to keep an eye on him till they have him locked up safely. It's the least I can do after he…"

"It's ok Lantern. Even the best of us make mistakes, get caught by surprise. It could have been worse." Robin said. _You could have trashed your own teammate for a crime he didn't commit._

"Yeah. I have my own mistakes to atone for. Hey guys, I have to go, but if you see Savior, tell him I'm sorry. Tell him, in the end, he was more like Hal then I thought." Lantern said. He waved to the Titans and then flew off after the ambulance as it drove off.

"Where IS Noel? We must welcome him back!" Starfire said.

"He'll be along. I know he's not dead." Raven said quietly. She didn't mention what she had done. She didn't want to dwell on how, despite all her efforts, how a lone touch made her feel.

"Man, look at this mess." Beast Boy said, looking at the ruined city blocks that had been destroyed by the battle. "So much damage…and for what?"

"It's ok. They were just…things. People are what matter. And we saved a lot of lives today. Us and Noel." Robin said.

Starfire saw him first, as he stepped out of the subway, perhaps much like the one he had been coming off of when the accident had first happened. He walked forward, heading down the street. 

Robin felt confused. He didn't seem to see them.

"Savior!" he said, as he and the other Titans ran (or in Cyborg's case, were carried) over to where Noel was. "Good job! You really came through in the clutch!"

Noel said nothing. He didn't even look at Robin.

"Well, it's good to know you're all right, and this proves once and for all you are a Titan to…" Robin said as he put a hand on Noel's shoulder.

Noel slapped it off. Robin recoiled as Noel finally looked at him, eyes filled with bitterness, mistrust, and worst of all, disappointment.

"I'm sorry…" Noel said, as he reached up. His jacket was torn up, but one part had stayed on up until now: the T Patch Starfire had sewn onto his shoulder.

Noel tore it off in one quick jerk. The Titans looked at him in shock as he dropped the patch at their feet.

"My Titans membership has been revoked."

And Noel turned his back on them and walked away.

"Noel? NOEL! What are you doing?"

"Noel, where are you going?"

"Noel man we're sorry, we wish we hadn't…"

"Noel come back! We're sorry!"

Noel ignored the yelling voices as he continued walking, leaving the Titans behind. Robin lowered his raised hand, understanding. He turned, and saw that once again that look was in Starfire's eyes, the look he hated and wished she didn't have to wear, the one of the dog who didn't understand why its master was leaving it behind.

"Robin…what happened? We found the real killer. He's going to jail. We said we were sorry. Why is Noel leaving? What…" Starfire said in confusion.

Robin sighed. Sometimes the complications of the human being didn't appear in those who were sick. Sometimes it happened to the most normal of us, in the course of life.

"There's a phrase that goes 'To err is human, to forgive divine'" Robin said. "Humans are gifted with great brains, ones that allow us to do so many things. But we so rarely use them. Instead, we listen to our instincts, our old animal impulses. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't…we did the wrong thing. When we read Jack's power on that body and thought it was Noel, we should have gone to him with the quest to clear things up. We shouldn't have automatically assumed his guilt. But we did. Instead of doing the divine thing and thinking about it, we did the human thing and immediately assumed the worst. When he needed us to act better then ourselves, the thing that marks us as special…we failed. We acted like ourselves instead. We did what came easier. We acted human."

Robin turned, looking at the fading speck that was now Noel Collins, as he walked down the street and out of their team.

"And I guess, in the end, Noel decided to do the same. Instead of doing the divine thing and forgiving us, he chose to do the human thing, and walk away."

The End

And so ends Black and White. I would like to thank all those who have supported this fanfic…

PSYCHE!

You thought it was over? Hell no! I still got more. For you see, some may think I have put the Titans through hell…

But that's not enough.

In the next arc, hell will come to earth.

See you then.


	23. Savior: Heroes

Chapter 23: Heroes

Writer's Note: SR, another Nickelback song, 'Hero', through the fic

* * *

A few weeks later… 

Metropolis had always had the nickname of the "City of Tomorrow", and recently, after a complicated series of events involving various villains, including an insanely powerful AI Program called Brainiac 13, it had literally be turned from a modern city into a gleaming and marvelous city of the future.

But despite its future looks, it still had modern people. And all the problems of modern people. Like purse snatching.

Don Sato hadn't meant any real harm. He hadn't expected the woman to be older then she looked, or put up more of a fight then he expected. He hadn't wanted to shove her, but he needed her purse, and if he had to do a little shoving, so be it. She was still yelling behind him as he ran. He ignored it. Wounds healed.

People were yelling now, but Don ignored them too. He just had to get down into the subway, and then he could effectively disappear. Maybe this score would be good, and he could move on to better things.

"Look, up in the sky!" someone yelled.

Don almost stopped, but he didn't. What would he be doing here? Don was small potatoes. And he certainly couldn't be everywhere at once. No, they were just trying to get him to stop, so they could tackle him down. So he wouldn't stop.

And come to think of it…

"No one's up in the sky!" Don thought out loud.

And then he landed in front of Don. This time, Don did stop, looking at the man with the white clothes and white hair.

"Yeah, I can't believe they still use that old cliché myself." Savior said.

Don didn't even get a chance to react, as the Shimmer removed the purse from his hands and the gun he kept for trouble from his pocket before he could blink. A second later Savior wrapped the Shimmer around him.

"I think you need a lesson in respect. You wanna knock old ladies down? Fine, I'll knock you UP." Savior said.

"You'll make me pregnant?" Don said in confusion.

"No. I'll make you fly!"

And Savior began spinning Don in a vertical circle, like he was performing in a lasso expedition. Don made the odd sound people made when they were being moved around rapidly, where it seemed to come from all sides because by the time your ears heard it on one side the person was in another position. Finally, Savior let go, tossing Don high into the air. He screamed as he flew up.

The crowd looked at him in surprise, some shock, and a tiny bit of fear.

"Relax. I'll catch him." Savior said, peering up. He'd used a fairly precise angle: the thief should come straight down.

And he did, screaming his fear and his dislike of the law of gravity. Savior snapped up the Shimmer and caught him, leading the line down as he slowly bled away the man's momentum so the stop wouldn't cause him to break his neck. Finally, he stopped him completely four feet before the ground and let him go. Don hit the ground, groaned, and passed out.

"Sorry, but it can't always be him." Savior said to the crowd, and shot the Shimmer to a nearby building and pulled himself up and away. He'd heard sirens coming: the police would take care of the thief.

Whether or not he had gotten the attention of the person he wanted to see remained to be seen.

* * *

It happened roughly ninety minutes later.

Savior had stopped another mugging or two, hopping around the city. He had been staring at the floating hologram that was on top of the Daily Planet when he heard the whoosh of air behind him.

"I guess you heard I was in town." Savior said, not turning around.

"Yes." Said the voice behind him, a rich baritone Savior had sometimes heard on the news and once in person.

"It's nice of you to take time to see me. I know you have a very busy schedule, and I don't want to bother you." Savior said, turning to look at the tall, muscular man with the black hair and the red, yellow, and blue costume, the stylized S on his broad chest that virtually everyone in the world knew.

"It's no real bother, though I would like to know why you just showed up without any warning." Superman said. "Are you planning on moving here? I'm not territorial. We could always use another superhero."

"Am I that?" Savior muttered.

"Why do you ask that?" Superman said. Savior blinked, then remembered that among many other talents Superman had a very good sense of hearing.

"Look, the world needs you, I really shouldn't bug you. I should go…" Savior said, turning away.

"No no, it's quite alright. If anything happens I'll have to go, but it seems calm for now. If you want to talk it's okay." Superman said. He knew how teenagers were, and he sensed that Savior was suffering from some problems that he could help.

"I guess. Thanks. It's kind of weird you'd want to speak to a lesser."

"You're not a lesser…"

"In the grand scheme of things, yes I am. I can stop some muggers or maybe some metahumans, but you? You're SUPERMAN. You were the first, and you're still one of, if not THE best. How many times have you saved the world? How many times have you saved the UNIVERSE? You may try and comfort me with claims that my powers being less then yours does not make me inferior, but in the grand scheme of things, I probably am. But that's ok. I can live with that." Savior said.

"Well then, what do you want to talk about?" Superman asked. His eyes seemed a bit distant, but Savior knew he was paying attention. He was also just keeping his eyes and ears open for any problems he could solve.

"I assume you heard about what happened."

"I heard some psychopath framed you, and that you left the Teen Titans after you helped beat him. Might I ask why?" Superman said.

"That's actually what I wanted to ask you." Savior said. "My teammates turned on me. I can forgive that. They were fooled. I can forgive that. But what I can't forgive is why."

"Which is…?"

"The killer did his research. There's a certain girl I'm…sweet on. The killer went out and picked out women who looked like her, making it look like I was killing them in a jealous rage. She rejected me, you see."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not. I understand why she did it." _Though that doesn't make it any easier…_

"So…what is your question?"

"That's what I figured I would ask you. You see, considering who you are, anything that happened to me, probably has happened to you 100x. So I just want to know…how do you deal with this?"

"With what?"

"THIS!" Savior said, waving his arms around. "Just being what you are! Being what we are! Different! Dare I say it, special! I mean, I know life is painful. I know it's not all wine and roses. I know people are flawed by nature and so many are so flawed that they can never be normal…but in the past four months I've been beaten half to death by a group of three superpowered teenagers who have a lot less maturity then I do, I've been tortured by some fruitcake who thinks that 90 of the world is worthless and deserves to die, I've been eaten by a proverbial monster, and then I've had my own friends turned on me by another psychopath who thinks I stole his powers! The woman I love can't love me back, and on top of all that, the media acts like we accomplished nothing when we nearly got ourselves killed accomplishing all that we could! Is this all I've got to expect? Is it always going to be this way? I'm not a selfish person, but I'm still human, and quite frankly, I've just about had enough!"

Superman was silent as Savior finished his rant.

"I'm sorry. I'm probably just some whiny teenager who thinks the world owes him something." Savior said, turning away again.

"Do you think it does?"

"Maybe a little! Virtue is its own reward and all, but a little gratitude never hurt! But I haven't got any of that either! Just bad things! Is that all there is to expect? And if it is, how can I, being human, expect to go on doing this?"

"I…" Superman said, then his eyes flickered to the side. "Problem. Stay here. I'll be back."

And then Superman was gone in a whoosh of air, like he had never been. Savior sighed and made a hammock out of the Shimmer, waiting.

Superman was back twenty minutes later.

"Any problems?" Savior asked.

"None I couldn't fix." Superman said. "I gave some thought to our discussion."

"And?"

"Savior…Noel, that is your real name, right?"

"…Yes."

"I wish there were some magic words or a secret piece of advice I could give you that could solve your problems and make you decide to stay in the fold, but the truth is I have no such advice. Despite my great abilities, I am not a God among men. Indeed, I do not think I feel qualified to answer your questions because…well, I am not immune to them."

Savior was a bit surprised. He knew that costumed heroes tended to be ballooned out of proportion by the media until they all seemed all knowing and all powerful, but even after taking that into account, Superman seemed to stand above the human race. The idea that he could be flawed, while not anathema, was a bit scary.

"You speak of bad things happening, of betrayals. There was a recent incident in my life that was like that. I can't give you details, but a villain of mine…he found out some very...dangerous information. And he used it against me. And he went all out: it was one of the most vicious things I have ever seen."

"Was that the incident where all those metahumans and other creatures attacked you? I heard there were hundreds of them." Savior said.

"Yes, that was part of it."

"And you beat them all. You see what I mean about the grand of scheme of things."

"That's not important. The thing was, the man who did this wanted one thing: he wanted me to get angry enough so that I would kill him. And Savior…despite what you saw happen to me, what you didn't see in his attempt to make me do this was infinitely worse. In the end I did not kill him…but I wanted to."

"So why didn't you?"

"Because I chose not too."

Savior arched an eyebrow, as he heard the words he had spoken to Jack echoed back at him through the mouth of the greatest superhero on the planet.

"I think, ultimately, that is what I stand for, what I fight for. Choice. It's all about choice. Everyone chooses their own paths. And my choices...may allow theirs…or I may allow them to make different choices if they made bad ones. I feel, after all my years on this planet, that choice is the greatest gift your species possesses."

"And that's it?"

"Some things in life aren't simple, Savior. And some are. All I can say is, it is your choice whether or not you want to continue fighting for the right things. You can choose to hang it up, I won't stop you. You can choose to go bad, I'll stop you but I'll leave you with the choice to change your life. Ultimately, it's all I can say. Make your own choice. It's what we stand for."

If Superman was going to say more, he didn't get to, as a massive explosion suddenly sounded in the distance. Superman's head jerked in the direction of the noise.

"Oh no."

And then he was gone.

* * *

What had happened was a villain known as Barrage was trying to sneak back into the city in the back of a van driven by a henchman. At least, that would have been the plan, but Barrage was impatient, and had tried to fix a broken part of his battle suit while being driven around. Bad idea, as sometime in the middle of the trip, and right on one of the bridges going into Metropolis, Barrage had stuck the wrong tool into the wrong circuit and caused his entire suit to blow up in his face. The henchman had been killed, and Barrage had been blown into the waters, barely alive himself. His explosive weaponry had been thrown all over the bridge in the initial explosion before they had all gone up. Needless to say, Metropolis Bridge was falling down.

One of the fair ladies that happened to be on the bridge screamed as an explosion blew the truck in front of her up and backwards, kind of a reverse jackknife. The truck had suffered such a fate when an explosion in front of it had sent shards of red-hot shrapnel piercing into the gas tank. The driver had been smart enough to get out and run, but it was too late for the female driver behind him, as the truck tilted over…

And stopped. The woman opened her eyes to see Superman pick the truck up and heaved it over the bridge and into the river. There was a risk that whatever the truck was carrying might pollute the water, but he could clean that up later. What he had to do now was remove the truck so it couldn't cause any damage via its cargo or the fires now raging on the bridge. It was a pretty big mess, and even with Superman being there, he couldn't be in two places at once.

This would definitely have helped, as a new round of blasts shook the bridge. The structure tilted and began to buckle, wires snapping as the structure gave in to the trauma being inflicted on it.

Superman barely had time to check the breathless, stunned woman he had just saved (partly because she had nearly been killed and partly because Superman was checking on her) when he had to zap away, leaving just a blur in his wake. He grabbed up several wires and pulled them upward, yanking the sagging bridge back to normal (or close enough). He used his heat vision and a knot his father had taught him when he was four to set the wires back into a temporary support. It would do until he could get the people off the bridge. He swooped down and began scooping people up, pulling them from their cars if need be, and depositing them on solid ground.

It appeared karma had it in for him today, though.

A new round of explosions detonated on the far end. New cables snapped, and the bridge sagged dangerously on the other end, threatening to collapse completely and dump all the cars and people on it into the water. The air was filled with the sounds of screams, metal buckling and tearing, and every now and then, a new explosion.

(On a side note, Barrage survived and eventually built another suit, but when he next ran into Superman, he had found out that Barrage was responsible for this disaster we are witnessing here, and let's just say the battle was short).

Superman flew over as fast as he could (which was pretty damn fast. Flash was supposedly the fastest man alive, but sometimes that was up in the air), grabbing up the cables and fusing them back. He then flew under the bridge to try and repair a buckling support column.

Despite all the noise, he heard the sounds clear as day as some more cables snapped, and then the change in tone as a scream went from general fear to absolute panic as a car toppled off the edge of the bridge. People think landing in water is relatively ok, but unless you know how to land properly, falling into water from a high height can be more unforgiving then concrete. Especially if you are in a vehicle at the time.

That, fortunately, was not to be the fate of the teenage couple in the car, as Superman swooped over and grabbed them. He grunted as the car nearly slipped out of his grip. He could hold the car easily, but strength was not as important as proper leverage: if he didn't grip the car properly a part could tear off and the car would resume its downward plunge. Superman shifted his grip as he began flying up…

And then it happened.

The school bus should have been abandoned by now. But the initial round of explosions had caused the driver to swerve violently, and that had knocked both the driver and the teacher inside, who had been standing at the time to try and deal with a problem, out. Trapped inside, unable to figure out how to open the front or back doors, the kids had only been able to scream as the ground below them shifted more and more until it finally gave out, dumping the bus off the other end of the bridge.

There is nothing quite as horrifying as listening to a group of children below the ages of eight scream in fear for their lives as they plummet to their certain doom. It could motivate normal men to superhuman feats.

And even with Superman, it gave him that little bit more, as he shifted his grip and flew under the bridge…

WHAM! The bus landed on Superman, side first. For a moment it continued its downward descent, and then stopped. Perhaps finally softening a bit, karma had seen to it that none of the windows had broken. With one arm holding a car and the other trying to balance a fully loaded school bus on his shoulder, the last thing Superman needed was trying to catch falling children.

Superman grunted, hissing a word under his breath that most people would be shocked to know that he knew, much less used. As said before, Superman was more then strong enough to hold both automobiles. The problem was leverage. Even now, the bus tilted precariously on Superman's shoulder, barely staying balanced enough. A slight change, and the bus could tip off and start falling again, and even if Superman grabbed something (indeed, his arm was already buried shoulder deep into the side of the bus, clutching the chassis as firmly as he could), it could easily tear off. Not to mention he was still holding a car, in a similar way, under him.

He had to get back on the bridge. Quickly. But carefully. Slowly, ever so slowly, feeling the sweat run down his face, Superman began to rise.

And then karma decided to be a bitch again, as one final round detonated. The shockwave flipped nearby cars over, but that wasn't the worst part.

What the worst part was the car near the edge of the bridge. One of the initial explosions had jammed the car up against the edge via another car being shoved into it, sealing both sets of doors and keeping the mother and young girl inside from getting free. But with the last shockwave, the car was again shoved, and the edge broke. Now over thin air, the car titled precariously on the edge.

Some brave souls stopped running and ran over to try and keep the car from falling. They grabbed or jumped on the side still on the bridge, trying to keep it balanced enough so that the woman and girl inside could crawl out. Superman, meanwhile, was still doing his own balancing act as he struggled upward.

The people helping managed to get the car door on the side of the bridge open (which was no longer blocked by a car but now tilting at 30 degree in the air, you decide which was worse). They grabbed for the mother, but she refused to go without her daughter as she tried to get a grip on her so the people could pull them both out.

The car shifted, as the people fought to try and keep it balanced long enough. But their weight just wasn't enough, as the car shifted some more, jerking violently as it titled upward more. The girl slipped out of her mother's arm, falling heavily against the car door, and then, as the mother screamed, out of it as the lock in the door gave out and dumped the girl out into the air.

Grabbing frantically, the girl managed to catch the inside door handle right before she would have plummeted to her doom, but her grip wasn't that great. Her mother continued to scream as she tried to reach her daughter, the people tried to keep the car from tipping over the edge completely, and Superman continued to struggle upward, seeing all this as it occurred but unable to do anything about it. He was Superman, not omnipotent, and if he moved any faster one of the vehicles would surely slip from his grip.

The girl answered her mother's screams with weak cries for her, but her fingers were giving out…

Superman continued his upward flight.

The car groaned as it continued to slide over the edge.

The mother kept screaming.

And then the door handle broke off.

Both mother and daughter joined in a cry of absolute terror as the girl plummeted. Superman saw her fall, and he almost dropped the cars he was holding and went for her.

But in the end, he couldn't.

Some choices are terrible no matter what decision you make, as the girl slide from his line of vision, blocked by the car he was carrying. The mother screamed in the way only mothers can, even as the people pulled her out of the car. A few seconds later, it fell after its occupant.

Superman squeezed his eyes shut, even as he grit his teeth in frustration, rage, and grief.

Yes, some choices are ones you never want to make.

* * *

Superman set the car down and then shifted both his arms to the school bus as he righted it and set it on the bridge. Finally, more help was arriving, from the Special Forces stationed in Metropolis and the other metahumans who called the city home. And he had saved the lives of many, including a whole busload of children.

But he'd missed one, and as far as he was concerned, as he listened to the mother wail, he may as well have missed them all…

A white line suddenly appeared over the bridge, swooping up and latching onto a secure surface. Superman blinked. Could it be…?

And then Savior pulled himself up, holding onto the child Superman had missed. Yes, he had.

The people who had saved the woman applauded as Savior hopped over and handed the child back to her hysterical mother, now crying tears of joy. Savior seemed a bit embarrassed, as he nodded and said a few things Superman could have heard, but didn't. He was too busy scanning the bridge to see if there were any other immediate dangers.

There appeared to be none. Most of the people had been evacuated, and the ones remaining were being escorted off.

Savior was walking past him, he realized. He turned and put a hand on the teenager's shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Hey, that car could have landed on our heads. That it didn't was enough reward." Savior said. He looked wistful.

"All the same, thank you."

"Hey, you did all the work…"

"And in the end you came through. It doesn't matter who has more power, Savior. It's what you choose to do with it. And you chose well, as well as any man who possesses the powers of myself or beyond could." Superman said.

"Heh. You know what she said to me?"

"Hmmmmm?"

"That girl. When I was pulling her up…you know what she said?"

"What?"

"She said 'Are you an angel?'"

Superman expected Savior to explain, but the young meta remained silent. Apparently this had some meaning to him.

"And?" Superman said, wondering if there was more.

"Oh, nothing. It just reminded me…why I choose to start doing this in the first place." Savior said.

And with that he was gone, snapping out a line and pulling himself away. Superman watched him go.

"Welcome back Noel."

* * *

"Ha ha, this is in the bag…oh yeah…HEY! OH NO!" Victor screamed as Gar's character avoided his character's jumping kick and countered with a super move, wiping out the last of Victor's life. Gar Logan whooped and jumped up, doing a dance.

"You Gameshark-using sonnava…!" Victor cursed, leaping up and grabbing Gar's right wrist.

"OW!"

"Hey Victor watch it." Robin said from the table he was sitting at.

"Yes, do not harm our comrade. It is just a game." Starfire said.

"I'm not gonna hurt him, but I know he's got some cheat codes or something, there's no way…!"

"This is a fighting game, there are no cheat codes! Now let go! That's the hand I ma…er, write with!" Beast Boy stammered. Cyborg suddenly looked disgusted and let go, rubbing his hand on the couch.

"EEWWWWWWWWWW!"

"What?" Beast Boy said, honestly confused.

"You know why! YUCK!"

"Oh, geez. Victor, it's not what you think!"

"Then what else could it be?" Victor said.

"Actually, he was going to say 'make shadow puppets'."

Cyborg and Beast Boy immediately forgot their argument as the voice spoke from the doorway, and all four Titans turned and looked at Savior as he stood there, leaning on the wall.

"But considering the degree of mockery that would have generated, maybe he was better off letting you use your imaginations."

"NOEL!" Starfire squealed, flying over and enveloping Noel in a bone crushing hug. "YOU CAME HOME!"

"AIR! AIR!"

"Oh yes sorry!" Starfire said, releasing the hug, and then starting it up again with a more careful grip. "I'm so glad you're back! It was not the same without you!"

"Yeah man, whoda thunk we'd miss your freaky movies and your constant speeches on war strategies." Cyborg said.

"I didn't." Beast Boy replied. Cyborg stomped on his foot. "OW!"

"Well Noel, uh…why are you back?" Robin asked hesitatingly.

"I figured you still needed a prom date, Robin." Noel said. Robin looked confused.

"Robin, look. All you guys. I needed some room, and some time to think. And in the end, I don't appreciate what you did, but I understand it. And I forgive you."

Robin looked relieved. He reached into his belt, pulled out a new communicator.

"Welcome back, Savior. And this time, forever."

"Yes! Welcome home!" Starfire said, grinning. Noel blinked.

"Home…is this home…yeah…I think it is." Noel said.

"Home is where your rump rests." Beast Boy said, turning into a warthog.

"Yeah. Home is where you choose it to be." Noel said, and left it at that.

"But whatever the reason you came back Noel, we just wanted to say, if there's any way we can repay you for our…mistake…don't hesitate to ask."

"Ok. Can I be leader?"

Robin blinked.

"NO!"

"You said anything!"

"Anything but that!"

"Yeah, you're probably the best leader we could have. Ok, how about we rename the team to 'Savior and Co'?"

"NO!"

"Make the Tower into an S?"

"NO!"

"My own Saviormobile!"

"Maybe for Christmas."

* * *

Some time later, the sun was just beginning to set, as Raven floated on the top of the tower.

She appeared to be meditating as usual, but the appearance did not match the reality. Indeed, one only had to look at how tightly her eyes were squeezed shut, how defined her clenched jaw was, to know something far worse was happening.

And this time, she feared she could not stop it. Her emotions going out of control was one thing, but this…

She knew it was inevitable. She could not…

But she also WOULD NOT…

"Raven?"

Raven opened her eyes to see Savior standing in front of her. She'd been so wrapped up in her inner struggle she didn't even hear him walking up. Inside her, the burning sensation faded, retreating back into wherever it came from. It wasn't because she had banished it though. It was because it wanted to.

It knew the inevitable too.

"Noel." She replied.

"Raven." Noel replied.

"I heard that you had come back…I'm sorry about what we…"

"It's ok. I forgave the others and I forgive you. You didn't know about Jack, so I suppose, considering the effort he put into it, I can't blame you for falling for it. But that's not it. What needs to be said is WHY the others fell for it so convincingly. And you know why."

"Noel…I really don't…" Raven said, turning away. She was surprised when Noel quickly walked around her.

"No. You're not walking away. Not this time. I need to know."

"Noel…"

"Dammit Raven, I was there too! I felt it in your touch, in your…kiss…" Savior said. "That wasn't just all one sided, you know."

"It was a misunderstanding. That's all. Now please…" Raven said, starting to turn away, and gasped when Noel grabbed her shoulder, gently but firmly, and spun her back around to face him. It wasn't a violent action, but there was definitely a determination behind the act.

"No. More. No more leaving, no more avoiding, NO MORE. WE are settling this. I want the truth Raven. That's all I need."

"The truth?"

"Yes. If you truly feel nothing for me, if my feelings are completely one sided, then look me in the eye and tell me. And if you do, I will accept it, and I will move on. But if that is the way it is, you will tell me, TO MY FACE, and you will do it NOW."

"Noel this isn't…"

"Yes. It is. The truth, Raven. NOW. I'll deal with whatever it is, but I will not go through this ANY LONGER. Now. Tell. Me. How. You. Feel."

"Noel…no matter what I say…I don't think…"

"Raven, I have my flaws. But I demand you tell me. Whatever it is. Trust me. Believe that I can surprise you."

"I can't…" Raven said, closing her eyes. She had started to squirm in Noel's arms, not in the "I want to get away" sense as an "I don't want to have to say this" way.

"YES YOU CAN. DO IT! Either tell me that you love me, or, as your poem says, TAKE YOUR BEAK OUT OF MY HEART, AND TAKE THY FORM FROM OFF MY DOOR!" Noel yelled.

Raven's eyes snapped open, glowing bright red. Noel recoiled in shock.

"QUOTE THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE." Raven snarled in a voice that wasn't her own.

And then she snapped out a hand and a tremendous impact slammed into Noel, throwing him backwards with a yelling cry of surprise. The red glow faded, leaving only a shocked horrified Raven, as Noel fell off the edge of the tower.

"No…oh no…"

He heard the loud noise as Noel caught himself with the Shimmer, but that was all she heard as the burning surged back.

No, she couldn't stay. She couldn't. She couldn't hurt Noel.

Raven finished disappearing into the shadows as Noel pulled himself back up.

"RAVEN!" he yelled, running over and swiping at where she had just been. His hands just passed through the last whispery remains of shadow that had marked her presence.

"Shit." Noel cursed, and turned towards the door.

* * *

In her room, Raven collapsed on the floor, clutching her chest.

"No…I won't…"

**_Yes you will child. It is not a matter of choice. It is a matter of time. And it is time for your destiny…_**

"NO….!" Raven wailed.

She should have said something. She should have sought help when she had first read the signs.

But she hadn't. She had believed she could do this on her own. And under that, she had believed she would hurt her friends, hurt them badly, if she got them involved. Noel had only made it worse, through no fault of his own. She couldn't help how she felt…

But her feelings were a curse. A curse that would be denied no longer.

In the end, she was going to hurt her friends. And the world. And when the time came, she would revel in it.

"Raven!"

Raven jerked her head at the voice at the door. Noel hadn't given up. No, he couldn't get near here. He would just hasten the end. She held up her hand and black energy covered her door and the wall.

* * *

"RAVEN!" Noel yelled, banging on the door. There was no answer. "RAVEN! OPEN THIS DOOR OR I'LL KNOCK IT DOWN!"

No response. Noel grit his teeth, backed up, and slammed the Shimmer into the door. It didn't budge. He banged on it and the surrounding wall a dozen times before he accepted that Raven was keeping him out.

And, though it terrified him, he was sure he knew why.

He had pondered it since he had started developing feelings for her, more so when he learned about her emotions and her bloodline. He had theorized that what was happening could happen, and that was why he had been going out. He hadn't been killing women. He had been hunting for an answer to a problem he thought could come up, and now it had. And he still had no answer.

But he had a name. And it was time to use it.

He hadn't told the Titans because he didn't want it getting back to Raven, but now he had no choice. It was time to call them in. Specifically, Robin.

And after what he had just seen and felt, he prayed he wasn't too late.

* * *

Raven could sense Noel leaving, and allowed herself a brief feeling of relief before the burning overtook her again.

"No…" she whispered. She had to get away. Away from her friends, away from people, away from everything, before…

**_You will not be going anywhere, child. The time has come. Now either accept it or not. The end will be the same no matter._**

"I WILL NOT GIVE IN." Raven hissed.

**_Very well._****_ I have waited a long time for this, and it is finally in my grasp. I can wait a little longer. But soon, very soon, I will be free, dear daughter, and you will take your place by my side. And this human side that fights so hard, the one that is doomed to fail, will be just as a memory. Why don't you just accept it?_**

"NEVER. I will fight you to my very last breath, father." Raven said to the darkness swirling in her head and slowly corrupting her being.

**_Have it your way, dear Raven. But accepting it or not, it's time to make room for Daddy.

* * *

_**

"Robin." Noel said, coming into Robin's room. Robin jerked up from the printouts he was reading, some info that Oracle had said he learn. It wasn't too important though.

"Yeah Noel?"

"Remember how you asked me if you could do anything for me after the Jack fiasco? I have something."

"What?"

"Robin…I never told you the reason I was going out. The truth was, I was looking for something."

"What?"

"Sorcerers."

"Sorcerers? Why on earth would you want to find a sorcerer…" Robin trailed off as his brain made a connection.

"Yes. I had my worries, even without my feelings. That's why I was always gone. Hunting whoever I could find down, and doing them favours in order for them to respond in kind. But the three I was able to find could not help me. They were not strong enough to give me what I need. But all three gave me a name. A person you should be able to contact. I need to see that person. NOW."

"Now?"

"NOW. RIGHT NOW." Noel said. He didn't mention Raven. Robin would probably relate his request to the back burner while he tried to help her. But Noel feared there was only one way to help her.

"Ok then. So what is your request, exactly?" Robin asked.

"Blood."

Robin blinked.

"Take me to see Jason Blood."

* * *

Next: TRIGON! 


	24. Trigon: Hellbound

Chapter 24: Hellbound

Once, long ago, the powerful demon Arch-Duke Belial, deep in the pits of hell, spawned two children. One was a creature who would come to be known as Merlin, the great sorcerer in the Camelot legend. The other was Etrigan, a prince among all demons.

In Camelot, a man called Jason Blood betrayed his king for love, and was subsequently betrayed by the love and condemned to death because of it. Angry over his acts, Merlin punished Blood for his betrayal by summoning his half-brother, the demon Etrigan, and binding him to Blood, granting both of them immortality in the process.

For centuries the two lived, swapping places on Earth and Hell respectively. Blood quickly realized the error of his ways and devoted himself to nobler goals, and his humanity helped temper Etrigan's nature, so that the demon, when called, would aid humanity (so long as it did not interfere with his own goals, and for that very reason sometimes Etrigan was as great a threat as he was a savior of humans). Jason Blood used his immortality to learn great knowledge and skills in the mystical and dark arts. As a sorcerer, he was nearly unparalleled, especially in the modern times when such things of magic had been mostly forgotten. But magic was still there, and still as mighty and dangerous a force as it had been in the mists of the past (indeed, Superman, considered the pinnacle example of invulnerability, only commanded two real weakness: kryptonite and magic). Hence, Blood was not exactly an easy man to find, preferring to find others who needed aid rather then have people coming to him. Indeed, he frowned on such things, and hence Noel would have had no luck had he sought him out himself. But Blood, and Etrigan, had had more then a few dealings in Gotham City, and nothing went on in that dark place that Batman did not know about. And being Batman's partner, Robin was able to call in a favour (a big one, Batman had been rather displeased, but Robin could live with that) that allowed him to contact Jason Blood and request a meeting. Blood, strangely, had replied almost immediately and granted it, giving the two boys a location. The only thing he had requested was that they come alone. So they had, and so they had arrived.

At first, Noel thought that Blood believed in the "hide in plain sight" strategy, as they arrived at a penthouse on the outskirts of Gotham. Robin, however, pointed out that if Blood had not wanted to see them, they would not be able to see the penthouse. Noel took that as the likely truth.

The building was filled with artifacts and other things Robin warned Noel not to touch, as they went up the stairs and came into what looked like a laboratory. Except Noel didn't think scientific experiments happened there. The partly opened closet, filled with what looked like tongues in glass jars, added weight to his assumption.

"Good day Robin."

The man walking into the room looked much like an ordinary businessman in a nice suit at first glance. The first mark of the unusual was the red hair with a streak of silver running through it. The second thing was his face. Again, a casual observation would have just revealed a man who looked to be of middle age. But a closer looked revealed a hardness of one who has seen centuries past, a craggy nature much like a mountain whom had also witnessed the passing of centuries without much happening to it. Yes, Jason Blood, to those who knew him, looked like a sorcerer.

"Good day Blood. I appreciate you seeing us on such short notice, I know you don't like being disturbed…" Robin began.

"It doesn't matter. Had you not sought me out I would have sought you. Something very bad is about to happen, the full extent I just realized recently. But I think you know what it is. YOU, anyway." Jason said, looking at Noel.

"Yeah, but he didn't tell me. What IS it Noel? What could you need that could possibly require someone like Blood?"

"Trigon is coming, isn't he?" Noel said quietly.

"Yes." Blood replied. Robin's eyes widened.

"TRIGON? Raven's father? When?" Robin said.

"If he is not free by now he will definitely be free within the hour. Possibly less." Blood replied, his face concealing, but not totally, the worry this brought him.

"HOLY SHIT! Noel why didn't you say anything! We have to get back to the Tower! We have to help Raven! We…!"

"Your ally did the best thing. There is nothing you can do, child. Not against Trigon." Blood said. "What do you desire, Noel?"

Noel didn't blink that Jason knew his name. He just spoke.

"I want to kill him."

Blood stared incredulously at Noel, and then he actually laughed.

"YOU? You, a mere human with a mutated nervous system, want to kill Trigon the Terrible? Are you mad or just stupid?"

"Can I do it?" Noel said.

"….Not mad or stupid…and yet both. My, what that does to humans." Blood said.

"Where is Trigon? How will he emerge?"

"Trigon is locked in an interdimensional prison called the Nether-Verse. He was sealed there after all of Azarath, the home where your ally Raven comes from, combined their powers, and though that managed to defeat him, it came at great, terrible cost. Raven was the key in that, but by her nature as Trigon's daughter, she is also the key to his escape. He has re-gathered himself, and now he is nearing the end of his long slow quest to break out. And in the process, turn Raven to his side."

"Raven would never…!" Robin said.

"She doesn't have a choice. She is his daughter. His evil is bound into her blood and being. And eventually it will overwhelm her, and she will cease to be the Raven you know. She will become the Raven her father wanted her to be, his right hand and aid in his destruction."

"I know." Noel said quietly. "What can I do?"

"Why do you assume there is anything you can do?" Blood said.

"Because I do."

Jason Blood regarded Noel, and then he nodded.

"Very well. I believe I can aid your quest. But we must go quickly."

"Where are Robin and Noel?" Starfire asked as she sipped a mustard-laced Coke.

"I dunno. Something about it being important and they'll call us if needed. Until they-HEY! CHEATER!" Cyborg roared as Beast Boy shot his car and blew it off a bridge he was crossing.

"I don't need to cheat. You just plain suck." Beast Boy said.

"No, YOU suck!"

"No, you are the one who sucks!"

"No, you suck! You're sucking right now!"

"Right about now Raven would be complaining and asking for quiet…where is she anyway?" Starfire asked.

The burning was no longer going away. She had exhausted all her efforts to disperse it and was now trying to keep it from spreading as she writhed on the floor of her room.

Her mirror lay nearby, but it was no help to her now. She had tried it once, and what she had seen was far worse then she had expected: a deadly fire sweeping over her mental planes, even as the manifestations of her emotions were winked out one by one. She was losing, and knew it.

But she'd keep fighting, even as she was being squished.

And her father allowed it. It amused him. And soon, it wouldn't matter.

Soon, once again, he would reign supreme once more.

"I can't believe Raven wouldn't have told us anything! We're her teammates, her friends! We could have gotten her help!" Robin said as Blood led him and Noel through a hallway.

"Somehow, I think she thought the best thing was not to tell us. So we wouldn't get hurt." Noel replied. Never mind that that rarely worked. Humans, even ones that were also half-demon sorceresses, rarely did the smart thing, instead choosing to do the "right" thing. Too bad they were rarely right on that thing.

The three ended up in a small room lined with closets. Blood went to the nearest closet and opened it.

"Trigon considers humans to be insects. He'll have subordinates to do his bidding…and interdimensional demons can be hard to kill."

"Won't our weapons or powers work on them?" Robin asked, as Jason removed a pair of nasty looking knives from a closet, and set it on a table.

"Demons inhabit a whole different plane of existence. When they…cross…the new state of reality they find themselves in can cause problems. They need to concentrate to hold their flesh together, at least until they can taint whatever new place they have come to enough in order to exist naturally. Until then, they are weakened somewhat, and your weapons of science, or your biological mutations or alien abilities may be able to wound and kill them. But there are too many variables. Some demons can handle themselves better. Some realities corrupt faster then others. Some PLACES in realities corrupt faster then others. No, what you will need is a sure thing."

Turning around, Jason laid down an axe that was nearly as big as he was. How he had carried it without effort either spoke to whatever powers he might have been hiding, or whatever powers the weapons might have been hiding.

"I have gathered these tools throughout my own battles, when my…other side was not enough, or not what was needed. These are all weapons that were made to kill demons. They will be immune to the variables, and give you an edge…at least somewhat. For a short time." Jason said. He laid a bow next to the axe and went to another closet. "They will kill whatever spawn Trigon summons…and will even be able to harm Raven when she turns."

"She won't turn…" Noel said.

"Yes. She will. It is already destined and will pass no matter how much you want it not to." Jason said. He laid a weird looking weapon down: it kind of looked like a rifle, but it had several glass orbs attached to it and no apparent trigger. "Indeed, the only suggestion I have to you to stop Trigon is take out his key. And that means you must…"

"NO." Noel and Robin said at the same time.

"I thought so." Blood replied. He laid a pair of razor-clawed gloves down on the table.

"These are my best tools. I'll loan them to you."

"Will they be able to kill Trigon?" Noel replied.

"Child, Trigon destroyed a planet when he was six years old. He ruled millions of worlds in his dimension before he was defeated. Even weapons like these would be no more then an annoyance to him. No, you could not even harm Trigon with these, much less kill him."

"Then get me a weapon that can."

"There is no such weapon in this reality, indeed no such weapon anywhere. You cannot kill Trigon, child. Abandon that notion."

Noel glared back at Jason Blood.

"No. I will not."

Jason blinked, and then he sighed.

"I see you are going to be stubborn…"

"There must be SOMETHING I can use against him." Noel said.

Jason appeared to be pondering something. Finally, he spoke.

"I may have something. Are you sure you wish to try, though?"

"Try what?" Robin asked.

"I'll try whatever I can." Noel said.

"Very well. Come with me."

Noel and Robin started after Jason.

"No, just you Noel. Robin, stay here. There's a book on the table that will tell you how to properly use the weapons I have given you."

"Uh…ok…" Robin said.

"I'll ask you again: are you sure you want to do this?" Jason said.

"Yes."

Jason just looked at Noel, and then he shook his head.

"Love." He muttered, as he turned away. Noel followed him.

They seemed to walk for hours, twisting and turning through the mansion. There didn't seem to be enough room for their journey on the outside, but they made it anyway. Finally, they came to a door. Jason spoke a few words that sounded like he was trying to speak with a cheese grater running along his throat and it opened.

"What am I about to show you is nearly as old as this universe." Jason said as the two walked into a totally empty room. Empty except for a single box on a pedestal at the end of the room. What Noel didn't know was that the room and door was guarded by so many spells and charms that if Noel had tried to enter it without Blood he would have been vaporized a dozen times over before he would have been able to blink. 

"It was a weapon used when gods fought for control over reality, a weapon that has almost always been used by a divine hand. Somehow it found its way to this planet, and then to my possession. I have kept it for many years, never using it. But…it is one of only two weapons in this existence that I think can actually succeed against Trigon. And believe me, the other is well beyond you. WELL beyond."

Noel didn't ask questions.

"Even this may be beyond you. It is meant for the hand of a god. For a mortal to wield it…it will not possess the power to kill Trigon."

Noel's heart sank.

"BUT…if used the right way…it may be able to banish him, destroy his gateway into this world before he had solidify his power. But like I said, it must be done very quickly. If he is allowed to gain a foothold in this reality, then all hope is lost. And even if it is used…the price you will have to pay will most likely be too high. One last time. Do you want to try and use this weapon?"

Noel, to his credit, didn't reply right away. He closed his eyes and thought. But when he opened them, there was no indecision. Only cold determination.

"Yes."

"Very well." Jason Blood said.

Then he threw a handful of dust he had taken from somewhere, tossing it into the air. Noel's vision suddenly swam and his ears popped violently as reality suddenly seemed to lose its cohesion. 

When everything cleared, they were no longer in the room.

They were standing in a stone room lit by torches, in a perfect circle. It was about 75 feet around. Noel and Jason were standing about eight feet off from the center of the room, facing away from it. That didn't bother Noel.

What bothered Noel was all the blood on the floor. There was a lot of it.

"Where are we?"

"You did not actually think you could just be given the weapon, did you?" Jason said. "You aspire to use a weapon once wielded by gods to slay an extradimensional demon. Such a task requires great things, and the only way to be sure that you possess them is to test you."

"I gathered. What do I have to do?"

"To prove that you have what it takes to wield a weapon like the one I have shown you, against such a powerful demon as Trigon? You must face another demon. With no mystical weapons. And should you succeed in defeating it, banishing it back from where it came…then maybe you will be worthy of such a weapon."

"…….Ok." Noel said, turning around. "I'm ready. Summon it."

"Child, you cannot face just any demon. And you are facing the wrong way." Jason said from behind him.

Noel arched an eyebrow in confusion. The wrong way?

"Gone gone oh form of man…"

Noel's eye went wide as saucers, as he spun around.

A red mist had come on and enveloped Jason, as a hot wind suddenly blew on Noel, and what sounded like screams echoed faintly in his ears. But it didn't drown out Jason's voice.

"And rise the demon…" Jason's voice thundered as it turned into a darker, snarling voice.

The mist dissipated suddenly and violently. Jason was gone. In his place stood a squat, heavily muscled creature with yellow skin, a gargoyle-like face, cruel claws, and glowing red eyes. It, or he, was also dressed all in red, with spiked wristbands on his arms, a spiked belt around his waist, and a skull medallion on his chest. A cruel fire seem to burn from within him, glowing from behind his sharp teeth.

"ETRIGAN!!!!!!!!!" Etrigan roared.

Noel felt his heartbeat increase even more. This was bad. He had expected Jason to summon a demon, not call forth his other self, truly a powerful and dangerous creature. One that Noel had no idea if he could handle.

 "Foolish little human boy, who doth wish to be the Demon's toy. You thought that you would earn the Fang, but instead you'll go out with a bang!" Etrigan laughed, and then leapt at Noel, claws swinging.


	25. Trigon: Hellbent

Chapter 25: Hellbent

Writer's Note: Some of you may have seen Etrigan on the Justice League cartoon, but I feel they left out the greatest part of his comic book character. What's that you say? Read on, I think you'll figure it out.

"Any boy who would fawn, over demon's mortal spawn, must be lacking in the brain, and that is e'er the path to PAIN!" Etrigan half roared, half laughed as he swung his massive, bony fist out, connecting with Savior and sending him flying backwards. Savior slammed into the wall, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out.

This battle had been going on for 20 seconds and it felt like 20 hours already from the few blows Etrigan had landed. His strength was off the charts, but then again, what could be expected of a creature that had once ruled Hell itself?

But as intimidating as that was, Savior wasn't giving up. Jason had said that demons out of hell dimensions or wherever they lived were weakened somewhat by the change in place. Surely he could find some way to beat Etrigan!

So he tried, lashing out with the Shimmer with, not holding back. He could have smashed through three solid feet of concrete…had Etrigan not shown surprising grace for his bulk and jumped over it.

"Your skill in battle is not jest, but let us see you weather THIS!" Etrigan said, as the glow within his gullet suddenly shone as brightly as a star.

Savior whipped the Shimmer back and formed a shield as Etrigan reared backwards and then snapped his head forward, fire belching from his gullet. The flame struck the Shimmer, and Savior jolted in shock as his arms began to burn. Etrigan poured on the fire for about eight seconds before he let off, and by then Savior felt like he had tipped his arms in hot wax.

"Demon fire is the bane, of mortals doomed to lives of pain. And if there's doubt, I'll tell you true: this hurts me far far less then YOU!" Etrigan laughed, and then with a roar he charged, swinging at Savior.

Savior dove between his legs, barely dodging Etrigan's stomping feet as he rolled and spun around, forming the Shimmer into a huge club that he slammed against the still recovering Etrigan.

Etrigan staggered a few steps. Considering that Savior had put enough force behind the shot that he expected Etrigan to go flying across the arena, it was a bit of a disappointment.

" 'A lucky shot,' that's what I'd say, if Ego held me in its sway. Your skill is naught to hold in doubt. Yet now I'll rip your innards out!" Etrigan said.

This time, Savior went through the wall.

Robin yawned as he turned another page. The weapons seemed simple enough: three just required cutting things, and the weird orb-gun was easy to figure out once you knew how to fire it. The bow was giving him some trouble though, and he had been plodding through some rather tedious legends and myths to try and understand just what to do with it. It wasn't the most mentally stimulating work.

Robin yawned. He bet Noel had to learn some really complicated spell or something. He wondered if that was as boring as this.

Wherever Blood had taken Savior when he had prepared his test, it didn't seem to be confined to one arena, as Savior tumbled through the crashing wreckage into another room beyond that. The décor didn't change much: still all stone, still lit by torches. No blood though. Thank god for small favors.

A fiery blast blew through the hole: Savior threw himself to the side at the last second, but it still seared him. He threw off his jacket: leather that melted could be very painful, and besides…

Etrigan ran through the hole.

And Savior threw his jacket over his head. Before Etrigan could produce a rhyming complaint Savior slammed twin Shimmer rams into his gut, actually succeeding in knocking Etrigan off his feet. The whiplash made his jacket fly off, but seeing couldn't keep Etrigan from stopping Savior grabbing the partly collapsed wall and ripping at it, bringing more stones down on Etrigan.

He had a feeling that wouldn't keep the demon down long. He formed a body-sized shield in one hand and a crude club in the other.

Etrigan exploded out from under the wreckage, as Savior put the shield in front of him to ward off the stone shards.

"Before you trifled with my fire, but now you've TRULY earned my ire!" Etrigan roared, swiping at Savior with claws that could cut through steel. Savior dodged aside and hit Etrigan with his club. It just seemed to make Etrigan angrier. Thankfully, not faster, as Savior used Shimmer strands coming out of his feet to push/leap over Etrigan's next slash, and then he rammed both his shield and club together on Etrigan's head like a cymbal. He leapt back…

And then Etrigan had him by both his arms. How could he move so quickly at times? Considering that half the time he was rather slow.

"A demon's head is really solid, due to our own environ squalid, but as for humans, despite what's said, no matter how dense, you have a soft head!" Etrigan yelled, and slammed his head forward. Had he head butted Savior in the face he probably would have been killed him, but the fact that he head-butted him in the chest didn't change the fact that it hurt like hell. It also didn't change Etrigan spinning around and throwing him through another wall.

"Perhaps victory is still your heart's assumption, but the end is as sure as Raven's corruption." Etrigan said as he walked over to where a bloody and battered Savior was trying to get up.

"Just curious. Can you say a sentence with the word "orange" in it?" Savior asked.

"You humans think you are so clever, with words like that are so hard to rhyme. You are so quick to mock, yet never, think of rhyming all the time!" Etrigan replied, and kicked Savior into the ceiling.

Raven had thought the burning was bad. She had been wrong. What had come in its wake was far far worse.

It was, in a way, a coldness, but in another way it was nothing. Truly nothing, that was swallowing her up, to be replaced with something she had despised all her life but in the end knew she couldn't stand against. She was already hanging on by her fingernails.

The only pain left in her body was a strange one at the top of her skull. It wasn't like any headache a human could have, but Raven knew what it meant.

The end was truly near.

The burning was all Savior knew, as Etrigan blasted him with demonic fire, his Shimmer shield not keeping the terrible heat from hurting him. He staggered and nearly fell, his strength sapped by the heat, and then Etrigan was there, driving his fist into Savior's gut. Savior collapsed at his feet. Sighing, Etrigan reached down and picked Savior up, his hand enveloping Noel's whole head.

"You fight in vain with all your might, for a goal that cannot be won. Trigon's seed will your love slight! For you trying is ALL the fun!" Etrigan said, and then reared back, planning to slam Savior head first into the nearest wall. He swung…

Shimmer strands slammed out and stopped his arm, even as new strands flowed out from Savior's head and pried Etrigan's fingers apart. Using the strands, Savior flipped himself backwards, catching Etrigan with a makeshift garrote and pulling him down, slamming the back of his head into the ground as hard as he could. Unfortunately the back of his head proved to be as hard as the front, and Savior had to leap away as Etrigan spewed fire at him again.

Then one of Etrigan's clawed hands slashed out as Savior retreated, slicing an errant Shimmer line. The pain exploded through Noel, and he collapsed with a scream.

"Your tricks are many, that is true, but in honesty your brains are few. I've been alive since humans sprang, you'll need more then tricks to earn the Fang!" Etrigan said as he got up, and then he charged into Savior, picking him up and ramming him back first into the wall, and then once again as the wall collapsed. Etrigan roared in laughter.

A roar that was cut off when Savior grabbed a large piece of stone and broke it over his head. Etrigan stopped, and Savior smashed another piece of rock over Etrigan's thick skull, finally getting him to loosen his grip. Etrigan roared his anger and was about to say something when Savior brought the third piece of rubble, three times larger then the others, down on Etrigan's head. He actually managed to knock the demon to his knees, and felt a surge of pride. It faded quickly as Etrigan got up, shaking his head.

"I must confess, I did not see. Was that the tickle of a flea? I've tangled with Krypton's last son! Before it started, this fight I've won!" Etrigan said.

"No." Noel hissed.

"Ah love, that secret, sweet sweet pain, that has addled this young one's brain. Against the cold, it is no buffer, and for crossing me you now shall suffer!" Etrigan said, and leapt at Savior, slashing with his claws. Savior dodged aside and smashed a Shimmer-club over Etrigan's head, but Etrigan just laughed and grabbed it, pulling Savior in and then sending him flying back with a vicious punch.

Savior bounced off the wall, hitting the ground face first. He groaned and tried to get up, as blood spilled into his eyes, making his vision blur and his eyes sting.

Etrigan was right: he was way too powerful for him. But he had to win. And if he couldn't beat Etrigan in the normal way, he'd have to get creative. But what would work on that rhyming tub of hot air…

Wait…

"Having been so long away, from the Pit and all its fun, you don't slay a fool on ev'ry day, so I promise to enjoy this one!" Etrigan said as he walked over to Savior.

"Hey, I hear demons don't dream. Do they have to breathe?" Savior asked.

And then he thrust out the Shimmer. Etrigan slashed at it but the strands dodged the attack and flew on. They struck Etrigan, and then to the demon's shock, they flowed out, sealing up his mouth and plugging his nose. Etrigan's roar was greatly muted as he tried to bite the Shimmer, but the material flowed over his teeth and covered them, so that when he closed his mouth the Shimmer kept the teeth from actually cutting. At the same time more strands whipped out and covered Etrigan's clawed fingers, sealing the claws away in the same barrier.

Etrigan thrashed and yanked, but Savior went with the Shimmer and was kept from being hurt as Etrigan furiously tried to get the energy off. By now it was almost completely coating his whole head.

Savior's face was filled with determination as Etrigan continued to struggle, refusing to give up as he yanked at the strands and tried to get something sharp into them.

In the end, that failed. But the demon fire didn't.

The burning sensation traveled down the lines and exploded through Savior, a whole new kind of pain. Fire blasted through holes that had formed in the Shimmer and then the energy finally retreated as Etrigan burned it away, using the magical qualities of his fire to harm the Shimmer where normal fire could not. The retreating Shimmer barely formed a shield as Etrigan turned the fire on Savior, sending more burning shooting through his body. No sooner had he finished his charring then he leapt over and smashed his fist into the Shimmer so hard he broke through the shield and sent Noel crashing into the wall again. Bellowing, Etrigan grabbed the prone boy and threw him across the arena again, sending him bouncing along the floor and into the wall behind him before he finally came to a stop. He didn't get up.

Etrigan took a few breathes. That had been close. And using the fire in such a situation may have harmed him. It made him angry. That boy would pay.

Savior started to get to his knees as Etrigan stomped over. His ploy had failed.

But…

"In battle both divine and cursed, I've endured the best as well as the worst. But now the novelty wears thin, so now I come to claim my win." Etrigan snarled as he stalked over. "Before I end your poor resistance, I wish to make one thing crystal clear. Not mortal can, without assistance, drop a demon on his rear."

He had no choice. This might not work, and he may not get the weapon, but if he didn't use it he was dead, and then he definitely couldn't help Raven.

"Hey Etrigan…"

"At last, the silent fool doeth speak. Obviously now you mercy seek. But you have lost, I claim my prize. I think first I'll boil away your eyes." Etrigan said as he came close, the brightness appearing within his maw again that signaled demonfire.

"Perhaps so, but the goal said I had to banish you…and since I can't beat you in combat…GONE GONE OH ETRIGAN! APPEAR ONCE MORE IN FORM OF MAN!" Savior yelled.

Etrigan stopped dead.

"WHAT! HOW DID…!" Etrigan yelled, as the smoke swirled up around him again. "YOU…know…" Etrigan's said as his voice faded into Jason Blood's, and the man reappeared, the Demon banished back to hell.

"How…?" Jason asked.

"When I tried to suffocate him…I also stuck several strands through his ear and into his brain. I can read minds…if I do that…and I read…that those were the words that could send him back. Etrigan was too busy trying to breathe to notice…so…does this mean I fail? I couldn't beat your other side in combat."

"Combat is one thing, but intelligence, strategy, and the refusal to surrender…those are far more important then strength. No Noel. You passed."

"Great." Noel said, and then passed out.

Had the remaining Titans been paying close attention, they may have noticed their Tower start to vibrate slightly. But the subtle feeling escaped them and woe to them for it.

For it was truly the calm before the storm.

When Noel woke up, he was back in the small room where this had begun. He blinked and then pushed himself up off the floor.

"I believe this is yours." Blood said, offering Noel his mangled jacket. Noel blinked, and then realized he felt no pain. His wounds were gone.

"What…?"

"What happens on the training ground…stays on the training ground. A small bonus, if you will." Blood said, giving Noel back his jacket.

"And you couldn't fix my clothes as well?" Noel teased.

"Your wounds are gone, aren't they? If you want I can easily bring them back!" Blood snapped.

"No no no, I'll live with it."

"Good." Blood said, turning back to the box. "Here is the weapon. Let us see if you are truly worthy of carrying it."

Jason opened the box. A soft glow came from inside, and it transferred out as Jason withdrew the weapon and gave it to Noel. He looked at it.

"A sword? Just a sword? Now THAT'S a cliché." Noel said as he looked up and down the softly glowing blade. With the exception of the glow, it looked like the average longsword.

"This weapon is beyond such things as a set state. Your own perceptions make it manifest as a sword. It has been many things through the ages, and accomplished miracles and brought about the end of worlds. I do not think it could manifest such might in your hands, but it may just be able to banish Trigon back to the Nether-Verse."

"Does it have a name? Etrigan called it 'The Fang'"

"If I said its real name your head, and most likely mine, would explode. But in the loosest translation I can give you in English, it is called 'He Who Dares Bare Fangs At God.'"

"Great. I'll get this back to you." Noel said, turning.

"Wait…" Jason said.

"Yeah?"

Jason closed his eyes.

"Gone gone oh form of man…"

"Hey wait a minute…"

"And rise the demon ETRIGAN!" Etrigan roared, back from hell.

"Hey, I beat you, I…"

"Lower thy ire, young mortal man. Betrayal is not in my plan. You won fairly, thought by trick, so listen to me for a tick. A demon you do wish to slay, so with a demon you shall play. I'll give you all the truth you need, though I rather doubt you will succeed." Etrigan said.

"…Ok. What do I have to do?"

Etrigan told him.

And in the end, Noel agreed. The price was extremely high, most likely too much for a human being. Or for him.

But if it came to that…

He'd pay anyway.

Etrigan left after he had given the information, and Jason reappeared.

"So you know?" he asked.

"Yes." Noel replied.

"And?"

Noel looked thoughtful.

"Do you think I can do it?" he finally asked.

Now Jason looked thoughtful.

"Some things are impossible. And some things…are inevitable. What do YOU believe, Noel?"

Noel blinked, and then turned away.

"I believe I can surprise her."

"Geez, took you long enough, I-WHOA!" Robin said, looking up from the book as Noel walked in. The "whoa" came from Robin's surprise at Noel's outfit, tattered and torn up. "What happened to you?"

"I had to enter some rather strong negotiations to get what I wanted. But I did. Here it is." Noel said, showing Robin the sword. "Gather up the other weapons and let's get the hell back to the tower."

"Agreed." Robin said, grabbing up a sack and carefully placing the weapons in it. Jason had give Noel a sheath for his sword (Noel would just call it the Fang as well, for the moment), and Noel sheathed it.

"Here, I grabbed a few things from the closets which might also help us with demons." Robin said, tossing Noel a small case. "Let's go." 

Within a minute the two teens were out of the building and back on their way home.

Deep in his mansion, Jason Blood pulled a long sheath of cloth off, of all things, a crystal ball. Saying a few words, he placed his hand on the surface.

"You gave him that weapon…do you actually think he can do anything?" Etrigan rumbled, the voice speaking inside Jason's head. It was only during these conversations that Etrigan would not speak in rhyme: something about it being "below his art" or something.

"I know many things, but at the same time…I do not know many things…and whether or not he can win is one of those. So is another…" Jason said, as he looked into the ball. It showed him an image he had known would appear, but it chilled him all the same.

"I do not know if those two will make it back in time. And I do not know if their allies will survive it."

Her hand was changing.

Her skin, dusky and pale from lack of light, was slowly turning the deep crimson of blood, the colour sliding up her arm. She watched. It was all she could do.

The pain in her head was coming to a climax, and her resistance was just about to completely run out.

She had been a fool. She should have run when she had the chance. She should have done something, anything, to avoid this. But she hadn't wanted to. Running or asking for help may have endangered her friends, as they would surely have come looking for her. In staying and pretending nothing was wrong, she had hoped she could avoid hurting them. But she had been wrong. Now there was nothing she could do, as the red swarmed up her hand.

The last act of Raven the Titan was to shed two tears.

"My friends…forgive me…"

And then a darkness deeper then night claimed her. Forever.

The Titans finally realized what was happening when they heard the laughter exploding through the Tower.

It was a terrible laugh, booming into the Titan's ears, the scorn and cruelty so thick they could almost see the laugh manifest itself in a physical state. The Titans reeled.

The TV the guys were playing suddenly exploded as all the lights flashed crazily, and then the Tower began to shake like a creature in an epileptic seizure. Starfire cried out in fear and surprise.

"What is happening!??!?!?" she cried, as all the windows suddenly exploded outward and a terrible heat washed down on them from above.

And the roof of the tower exploded as Raven rose up, her arms out and her head thrown back as she laughed, her own high shriek matching with the disembodied laugh that had shaken the building.

Raven no longer resembled a human. Her skin was now blood red all over, and a new set of eyes had opened up in her forehead, giving her four. Red lightning crackled from and around her, as her cloak thrashed about, no more just plain cloth. It now seemed almost a living thing, a mantle composed of the shadows. Her father's evil had finally won, overwhelming and crushing her personality and placing what her father represented in its place. Raven had, for all terms, ceased to exist.

And the new Raven only had one goal.

Starfire flew up, carrying Cyborg, as Beast Boy joined them as a hawk. Everyone goggled at this new Raven, and at the power that washed over her and around her, blackening the night sky to an even darker nocturne.

"Raven?" Beast Boy said incredulously.

"What…has happened?" Starfire asked, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Ah, my former allies…" Raven said, looking at them. It was her voice, and yet it wasn't. It now contained an edge, a cruelty, that the Titans never knew their friend possessed. But she did. It was her birthright.

And Cyborg, recalling his trip through Raven's mirror, and what he had seen, realized what had happened.

"RAVEN NO! DON'T!"

"Behold! You shall be the first to see the new dawn! COME FORTH FATHER! COME FORTH AND CONQUER!" Raven laughed, throwing her hands up and out. The air above Raven suddenly glowed black.

"NOOOOOO!" Cyborg yelled, activating his cannon and firing. But an invisible wall of force around Raven stopped all the shots, even as she laughed and slammed her arms down.

(Writer's Note: Since I cannot upload music to a fic, please imagine some dramatic choir music for this moment. Maybe that tune where the Fellowship and Gandalf confront the Balrog in LOTR:TFOTR. Yeah, imagine that tune for this scene).

The air above her SPLIT, opening up a vortex that howled with the fury of hell. But even that terrible sounded was drowned out by the booming laugher as a red-clawed hand emerged from the gate. The hand was quickly followed by an arm, and then Trigon emerged from the hole.

The demon seemed even larger then he had when Raven's Anger had manifested itself in his form, but besides that the red-skinned, four-eyed, loincloth clad monster known as Trigon the Terrible looked pretty much the way Cyborg remembered.

Trigon landed on top of the tower, the building buckling but managing to hold his weight. He roared his triumph.

"AT LAST! FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!" Trigon bellowed, the sound hurting the Titan's ears.

"Father…" Raven said, floating over to Trigon's face. Trigon's face acquired a look that could almost be tenderness.

"Ah, my daughter. At last you have realized your destiny."

"And yours. Come father. Let us rebuild your empire, and make it a thousand times greater then the last." Raven said.

"NO!"

Raven spun around to look at the Titans, standing nearby with as defiant a look they could muster in their fear.

"Raven! Come back to us! Please! This is not who you really are!" Starfire cried.

"Oh, but is is, old friend. This is whom I was meant to be. It was why my father soiled his greatness by laying down with a human woman. It was so that I, as you see now, could come into existence. It is all I was ever meant to be." Raven replied.

"And then what were we?" Beast Boy yelled. It sounded good until he had actually said it.

"Fools. And the first ones to fall before my invincible father. Goodbye." Raven said, raising a hand.

"No…" Trigon said. Raven looked over at her father with some surprise. "No, dear daughter. You were the key that allowed me to break free from that prison your so called home world dared place me in. Allow me to annihilate these fools."

"As you wish, father." Raven said.

Trigon smiled, showing more teeth then an army of crocodiles, and then his eyes glowed bright red before massive bolts of force fired out of them.

The three remaining Titans only dodged because they had some warning. The beam flew past them, and then a massive explosion blasted in the distance, the force wave so strong it knocked the Titans over.

"Hmmmmm. Not bad." Trigon said, as he raised his left hand. Fire, more powerful then anything Etrigan could muster, burst into creation on his fist. "But not enough either."

Trigon threw the fireball. And this blast was too large to dodge.

Surprisingly, Starfire opened up on the fireball with a barrage of Starbolts. Cyborg added to it with his sonic cannon, and Beast Boy turned into an elephant and, pumping water in his trunk, began spraying the blast. The fireball continued on its path, but it shrank as the Titans continued to blast away at it, and several feet from impact it dissipated. 

Trigon cocked his head, as Cyborg lowered his cannon and gave him the finger.

"You'll have to try harder then that to beat the Teen Titans!" he yelled.

"Very well. I guess I will put some effort into this one." Trigon said.

Cyborg gaped. Somehow, he knew Trigon had been speaking the truth. That fireball they had barely stopped…Trigon had put no effort into it. But the next one…

"Silly mortal children…" Trigon said, as he summoned another fire blast twice as large as the previous one. "I have lain waste to worlds beyond your comprehension. You are nothing but insects, and you cannot beat me…"

And then Trigon yelled in surprise as a blue blast of some kind of energy suddenly flew up and crashed into his eyes. He recoiled a bit, the fireball fading as he brought his hand up to his face. He hadn't been expecting that, and that had allowed it to harm him.

The Titans looked behind them.

Robin was standing on a slab of rock sticking out of the sea, holding some kind of weird gun with orbs attached to it. Savior stood behind him, holding a bag. Robin lowered the orb-gun, his eyes as serious as they had ever been.

"I'd like to test that theory."


	26. Trigon: Hellhole

Chapter 26: Hellhole

Once, in a moment of foolishness that would have been considered unparalleled had it been done by something other then the human race, a group of Satanists, truly believing their creed, tried to sacrifice a woman called Arella to bring their lord to Earth. They failed, but in a way succeeded, as Trigon came in his stead.

Why Trigon took Arella as his bride was never truly known, except that it surely involved the desire for more power. Arella, tricked into the union by Trigon taking the form of a handsome man, soon learned of the truly demonic nature of Trigon, and was on the brink of suicide before karma decided to repay her. As an extradimensional demon had fathered her child, an extradimesional peace cult came to her rescue. Centuries ago, they had forsaken life on Earth to pursue their own nonviolent lifestyle, and they aided Arella by taking her to the mystical world known as Azarath. There, Raven was born.

And since then, her body and soul had been in a war between Trigon's evil and her adopted home's peace and love. Battles had been fought, some at terrible cost, in order to protect Raven from her dark birthright, and the people of Azarath had taught Raven to keep her emotions, the strongest link between her and her father, under as firm a command as possible, to the point where she had to be dead inside. Such a thing is truly hard when you are a human, with all the flaws they possess. When you are also a teenager, the difficulty is magnified even more. But Raven, in Azarath, and later with the Teen Titans, fought her evil side with all the power she could bring to bear.

Do not mourn her failure. It was, in a way, inevitable. Instead, mourn the Titans, and the world, if they fail where Raven could not succeed.

It was Raven's destiny. She was truly born of hell and borne to hell.

Pray that is not the fate of the Titans.

It was worse then Robin thought. They had been too late: Raven had fallen to the darkness within her, and had torn the barriers between this world and the Nether-verse wide open, freeing her father.

Cyborg and Beast Boy had spoken of how they had traveled inside Raven's mind and fought Trigon. But, Raven had later explained, that had not been the true demon lord. It had been Raven's anger, manifesting itself in the form that aroused her rage the most: her father.

This was the real Trigon, and Robin had a feeling the imitation Cyborg, Beast Boy, and the now-lost-to-them Raven had fought would prove to be a pale one indeed, in terms of power and ferocity.

Trigon was certainly doing his best impression of his Raven Rage Form, as he roared, clutching his eyes. The orb-gun should not have been able to do him any harm, but he had been focusing his efforts on the fireball he had been planning to throw and had been left slightly vulnerable. Though, in the end, all Robin had done was made him angry.

"IMPUDENT CHILDREN!" Trigon roared as he pulled his hands away from his eyes. "HOW DARE YOU! I SHALL BURN…"

Trigon stopped in mid-yell, apparently realizing something.

"Are they worth it father?" Raven said, floating next to Trigon's head.

"No. They are lessers, not even worthy of my wrath. I shall deal with them appropriately…" Trigon growled. "FOR THIS WORLD IS MINE NOW! BOW DOWN BEFORE MY FURY!!!!!!!!"

Red and black lightning crackled on Trigon and they exploded outward, washing over the T-Tower. The Titans gaped at the structure was turned to black stone, twisting around into a more vicious shape, as the sky around him rent and turned crimson, and the water suddenly boiled and turned to a sea of rot. The air was filled with a terrible stench, as Trigon tainted the world around him into proverbial hell.

That didn't worry the Titans. What worried them were the new forms that joined Trigon, crawling up from his feet and coming through rips in reality that had opened. Things from the nightmares the Titans had had when they were young, the dark sides of their imaginations come to life.

"Ripley said it best. My mommy always said there were no monsters." Savior said, in a tone that indicated his "mommy" had been proven wrong and he wasn't happy about it.

"Robin…" Starfire said, her voice growing fearful.

"Don't panic Star. We're not totally helpless. Ok guys, here's what we do. Noel and I got weapons that can hurt demons. Here Cyborg, take this." Robin sad, pulling the axe out of the sack and handing it to him. That was all he got to do as Trigon laughed, his hordes swarming around him.

"ATTACK!" he bellowed, and the legions swarmed forth, shrieking horribly.

"Geez! What do I do with it!?!" Cyborg yelled.

"You see the sharp end? Aim it at the bad things!" Robin said, tossing Savior the orb gun and rummaging through the sack.

A demonic flying reptile-esque creature dived at them, screaming. Savior jammed his hand into the device, finding the hidden trigger, as he aimed and fired. Blue power crackled in the orbs and then fired out through the gun, blowing the creature in half.

"Like I said, these are all specially designed to kill demons! Star, here!" Robin said, tossing Starfire the bow. Starfire took it with some confusion.

"Where are the projectiles?" she asked.

"There are none! You have to…!"

What looked like a lion, except its mane was composed of sharpened bone, ran at the Titans, roaring. Starfire shrieked, and then Cyborg attacked it with his axe, chopping deeply into the side and sending it flying away. Black blood splattered on the ground. Another one attacked, and Cyborg brained it with the axe, leaving its corpse at his feet.

"I could get used to this." He said.

"Here Noel, you can have more then one set of limbs with the Shimmer, take the daggers and…" Robin said, handing Noel the daggers.

"Yeah, and Robin, you take the Fang." Savior said, handing Robin the special sword.

"What? Noel, why?"

"You're the one of us with the most weapons training. Try to see if you can wound Trigon in any way! Maybe we can hurt him with the other weapons if you wear him down some!" Savior lied. He knew what it would take, but he couldn't tell Robin.

"Ok! Beast Boy, you get the claws! Turn into something that can use them!" Robin said, handing Beast Boy the last of the holy weapons.

"Incoming!" Cyborg said, and then a crush of humans (well, humans with skin the colour of flayed flesh and eyes and mouths that were sewn shut) attacked, moaning and clawing at the Titans with rotting fingers.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled, as he leapt out of a pincer movement and flipped away. He was about to start swinging when he saw what looked like a floating black cloth with twin glowing orbs within its "head" nearby.

Cyborg hacked down a zombie, but the creature raised his arms and the zombie immediately got back up. Beast Boy, in gorilla form, did the same with the clawed gloves he was wearing, but the zombies got right back up when he raised his arms. _Oh no you don't!_

Robin charged, leaping over another bone-mane creature and leaping up, swinging…

And then a blue blast struck the cloth creature, tearing it to shreds with a wail of surprise. Robin stopped as best he could in mid-leap and fell, landing and rolling. He turned back. The zombies had collapsed, their strings cut.

"Hey, he was mine!" Robin yelled at Savior, who lowered his gun

"Sorry, I didn't see your name…LOOK OUT!" Savior yelled, pointing. Robin turned around to see a creature that was nearly 12 feet tall and composed all of muscle charging at him. He gulped.

"Savior, how do I use this?" Starfire said, flying away from a bat monster and landing next to Savior.

"Damn, what did Robin say? I think you have to focus your Starbolts through…would you lean back for a second?" Savior said. Confused, Starfire leaned back, and Savior aimed the orb-gun over her body and blew a hole through the chest of the spindly bone-esque creature that had been sneaking up behind her.

"Focus? How?"

"THAT, he wasn't so specific on." Savior said, and then yelped as what looked like giant slugs suddenly crawled out of the ground beneath him. He pulled himself away with the Shimmer and thrust two more strands holding the daggers down into the creatures. They screamed, despite lacking any kind of a mouth.

"HAH-AH!" Cyborg bellowed as he drove his axe deep into the gut of a charging demon and then spun and threw the axe through the air, catching what looked like a floating head with spider mandibles the size of a car in the forehead. It staggered and then Cyborg blasted it with his sonic cannon, blowing it into pieces. He ran and caught the axe, and then decapitated three things that looked like vampires that had been dipped in green paint. Gore splattered him, but he ignored it as he raised his cannon and blew a giant bat out of the air.

"Yeah! Whose the man!" Cyborg whooped.

And then what looked like a cross between a minotaur and a eagle came flying down, clawing at him. Cyborg was knocked down, nearly dropping the axe as the creature leapt on top of him, clawing and biting.

Roaring, Beast Boy ran in, wearing the gloves (they seemed to be able to change size as he changed form) in a bear form as he ripped into the monster's side. It screamed, pulling away from Cyborg as it tried to get at Beast Boy. But Beast Boy dodged aside, turning into an Utahraptor and jumping on the creature's back, clawing at its head.

Starfire jumped back, blowing a few bat creatures out of the air with her Starbolts before she looked at the bow again. She couldn't figure out how to use it! How did it work!

The recoil of the orb-gun Savior was using wasn't much, but a bad angle did him in and made him lose his grip. A bone-mane creature leapt, knocking him down, but before it could rip his throat out Savior jammed both the daggers he had into the creature's eyes. The creature howled and began to thrash, but Savior pushed it away with the Shimmer as he twisted and shoved the daggers in as hard as he could. The creature finally dropped away, dead, and Savior started getting up, heading for the gun again.

Another creature leapt at him. Savior wasn't going to let him get as close, but he couldn't reach the gun. He could, however, reach one of the vials that had been in the small case that Robin had prepared, which had been tucked into his jacket and then forgotten when the battle started, and in a flash a Shimmer strand pulled the vial out, uncorked it, and threw the liquid within in the demon's face. It reacted like it had been sprayed with acid, and as it fell away Savior ran over and grabbed up his gun, firing a blast into the monster that finished it off.

"What the…" he said, pulling out another vial. The liquid just looked like water.

And the monster attacking him bore an eerie similarity to a Cacodemon from the Doom games. Savior threw the vial and it shattered on the demon, and once again the creature reacted violently. Twin Shimmer strands drove the daggers through the creature, and Savior threw the body aside. He pulled out another vial. He knew what it was now.

"Holy water." He said. Clichéd as it was, it seemed to work. He tucked the vial into his jacket pocket and began his battle in earnest.

Robin had been planning to use a hit and run attack. He'd give the giant in front of him a small wound, back off, give him another, back off, and hopefully frustrate the creature into making a mistake he could take advantage of. At least, that has been the plan until he had performed his first slash.

The giant creature howled as he slashed it with the Fang, and Robin leapt back to dodge the counter attack. But there was no counter attack. Instead the monster clutched the wound and screamed again.

And Robin saw that the flesh was burning up, power radiating out from the wound and turning the tissue to ash. Within a few seconds the demon's whole midsection disintegrated, leaving the creature helpless and screaming as it ceased to exist.

And Robin realized just how powerful the sword was.

A monster swinging a spiked club at him was charging. Robin dodged aside and stabbed the Fang in. The creature bellowed in pain as the same thing happened, the sword burning away the demon flesh like it was nothing.

Robin revised his battle strategy. He pulled out twin smoke bombs and threw them into a horde of monstrosities, and then he charged in, swinging and chopping. The beasts fell before him like grain before a scythe.

Trigon was unhappy.

He had expected his demon legions to have torn the children to pieces by now. But something was wrong. The children seemed prepared, and they were using weapons that bothered him. Where had they gotten them? He certainly didn't think they'd had them lying around, just in case of something like this happening.

In any case, he was annoyed. Greatly annoyed. The leader seemed to have something even better then the others, as he was carving a swath through his minions like they were infants.

This would not do.

"Father?" Raven asked.

"You read my mind child." Trigon said. Well, he never claimed to be utterly infallible. But he always rectified any mistakes he made, and he was going to do that now.

Fire exploded into being on his right hand, even as his daughter raised her arms and started focusing black energy above her.

Jason Blood, watching on his crystal ball, felt his eyes go wide as he saw what Trigon and Raven were doing.

"Oh no…"

Starfire saw it first, as she was busy flying away from demons and blasting them with Starbolts. She stopped as she saw the two charging their respective powers.

"Another trucking skit." She said. She still didn't know how to swear properly, but her tone made the words as strong as if she had said the right ones. She sucked in air.

"TITANS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Two seconds later, Trigon and Raven fired, throwing twin bolts of power out into the midst of the battlefield. The explosion nearly cracked the island in half and sent powerful waves buffeting against the docks of Jump City, which had not yet been corrupted by Trigon's power. The air filled with screams as dozens of demons were incinerated by their own master's power.

Trigon lowered his arm, feeling satisfied.

"They should feel blessed. They proved themselves enough to fall at your hand after all." Raven said.

"Hmmm, yes. How irritating. Now…"

A bat creature flying around the outskirts of the explosion suddenly blew up in a blaze of blue light. A few seconds later, Savior emerged from the smoke.

"WHAT?" Trigon said.

Starfire flew down, as Cyborg and Beast Boy pulled themselves out from the wreckage they had been buried under. Starfire's warning had come just in time for them to seek cover.

"This…is growing irksome." Trigon said.

The Titans didn't get much of a chance to celebrate as they were immediately swarmed with new demons. But near death seemed to have only revitalized them as they fought back with even greater fury then before.

Well, all except Starfire, who still couldn't figure out how the bow worked. She was looking at it again when a demon that had a form of a sexy and voluptuous woman with bat wings on her arms flew down at Starfire. Starfire yelled in surprise and jumped back, but her actions caused her to pull hard on the bow string.

A Starbolt appeared as she did, forming into an arrow shape. She looked at it in surprise and then yelped as the female attacked her. She let go of the string and the bolt flew out, blowing through the demon's chest and sending her flying back with a scream. Starfire blinked.

"Oh." She said, and pulled the string again. The Starbolt-cum-arrow formed once more. So that was how it worked! She let it go again and the arrow flew, blowing through three smaller demons that had been heading over to attack her. Apparently, the bow infused her power with something extra that allowed it to harm demons more then her actual Starbolts would.

A giant rotting bull corpse was barely being held back via Cyborg's sonic cannon. Beast Boy swooped in as a pterodactyl and then became a griffon as he landed on the creature's head, clawing. The combination of the attacks finally caused the creature's head to cave in, but the body kept charging. Cyborg dodged aside and the body kept running, as Beast Boy yelled and tried to stay on as it plowed through more demon hordes.

"Tenacious, aren't they?" Raven said.

"It does not matter." Trigon said. He was still irritated, perhaps more so that his attack hadn't killed all the Titans, but in the end it didn't matter. The power he had infused this part of the world with was spreading, and the more it spread, the stronger he got. And as the taint spread, so did the holes that allowed the demons into this world. Eventually, the numbers would overwhelm the Titans.

Indeed, it was happening even now. The one called Savior was now close to one of the tears, and indeed the constant flux of demons was starting to get to him, as he fired his orb gun at one creature and had three take its place. Holding the gun in his hands and using Shimmer strands to hold the daggers, Savior fought furiously to hold his ground. Indeed, even that wasn't enough, as some demons were getting through his defenses and he had to grab them with the Shimmer and throw them away. But the rift kept pumping out new monsters.

Indeed, one was coming out right now, what looked like a woman with knives for fingers. But her time on earth was approximately one second as Savior, quite by accident, threw a giant dog creature in that direction and into her, knocking her back into the rift.

Starfire was firing off arrows at a rate that would impress Legolas, but the numbers were getting to her too.

"There's too many…!" Beast Boy said as he was swarmed by what looked like insects. He turned into an armadillo to avoid being eaten. A second later Starfire saved him by firing a few arrows into the swirling mass, burning up the tiny creatures. But as she did, a demon flew into her, knocking her to the ground, and then more demons leapt on her as she vanished beneath a gnashing pile of teeth and claws.

"Like I said, it does not matter. All five are…" Trigon said.

Wait. He could only see four. Where was the leader with that weapon that was so effective? Did he manage to get him in the blast? Maybe…

And then, much to Trigon's surprise, pain radiated up his ankle. He threw back his head and roared. Raven recoiled in surprise and then looked down.

Robin was at Trigon's feet, the Fang buried up to the hilt in his ankle. He'd barely dodged the explosion, but he had managed to lose himself in the chaos and sneak up to Trigon. He had hoped the sword would have the same effect on Trigon as he did on his minions, but no such luck. He yanked the Fang out. He had better retreat and plan a new attack, or…

Raven flew down, slamming black energy tendrils into him and sending him flying. Shrieking, she encased him in black energy and slammed him into the ground. Pain exploded through Robin's body, and he screamed.

A huge hand reached down, grabbing him up. The yank upward was so sudden that Robin lost his grip on the sword, and it flew out of his hand and went spiraling into the battlefield.

"You HURT me…" Trigon growled as he brought Robin up to face him. "You actually made me feel pain! NO ONE DOES THAT TO ME!"

"Gee, got yourself a bit of an inferiority complex there, Trigon. You should see a shrink. Did Freud go to hell?" Robin quipped, in too much pain to feel any fear.

"You'll pay for that, mortal. I'll eat you alive." Trigon said, opening his mouth.

And then a pile of demons exploded outward as Starfire blasted out, her eyes and hands blazing green. She zapped at Trigon, placing her hand on the bow string and pulling it back as a giant arrow, ten times the size of the ones she had formed before, exploded into being. With a scream of rage that only people in love can muster, she fired, throwing the bolt of power at Trigon. 

It impaled through his right shoulder. Trigon's bellow was more of complete and utter surprise then pain, as he dropped Robin. Starfire flew under him, grabbing him.

"Father? Impossible!" Raven said as she flew up and over to where her father was clutching his wound.

"I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS DEFIANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he bellowed, as his eyes glowed. Beams of force lanced out, slamming into Starfire and blowing both her and Robin out of the sky. They fell to the ground like a comet, as fire and power erupted on Trigon's right hand.

"NOW DIE!" he roared, throwing his hand back.

"Amazing how when danger's present, over the small things we fret and fear, you dither with these younger heroes, when the greatest threat is in your rear!"

Twin blasts of demonfire slammed into the side of Trigon's head, and he forgot about his fireball as he roared in pain again. He spun to look at his new attacker, as he landed on a chunk of stone thrust into the air during the battle.

"ETRIGAN!" Trigon roared, recognizing the demon. Etrigan smiled.

"Ah mighty Trigon, demon lord, you know my name, I'm almost honored. Although they fight with nail and tooth, I'd miss the fun if I were aloof!"

Enraged, Trigon fired his force beams at the Demon, and fire exploded on Etrigan's hands and he countered, firing his own blasts of power. The two met in mid-blast, and the two roared their rage as they fought a war of wills.

Raven, annoyed, flew away. Etrigan might cause a few minor problems, but if the Titans were allowed to recover, it could snowball (wouldn't that be funny? A snowball in proverbial hell) into a major problem. And since those idiot minor demons couldn't do anything right, she would handle them herself.

"Star! Robin!" Beast Boy yelled as he bounded over to the fallen couple, Cyborg on his heels. Robin was kneeling over Starfire, who had taken the brunt of the blast and was badly burned.

"Guys, cover us! Star needs some help!" Robin said.

"Great! Can we use that special sword you brought?" Beast Boy asked.

"Sure I…oh no." Robin said, finally realizing he had lost the blade.

The sword had landed blade down, sticking out of the ground. All the demons, aware of the power of the blade, shied away from it.

And the last of them had their heads explode as Savior blew them off with the gun. He staggered and nearly fell, exhausted.

Then his eyes came to the sword. He blinked, wondering if he was imagining it.

No, it was real. The Fang. And if this wasn't a message, he didn't know what was. Savior gathered himself and staggered towards the sword.

And then Raven landed in front of him. He stopped dead, his eyes going wide. Was this what his lady had become?

"Ah Noel…" she said, smiling. Her eyes showed nothing but cruelty. "I believe it is time to finally break your heart. Literally."


	27. Trigon: Hell On Earth

Chapter 27: Hell on Earth

Writer's Note: SR, near the beginning.

* * *

"Damn, do these things spawn on damp locker room floors or what?" Cyborg yelled as he hacked apart another demon creature, this one a one-eyed tentacle monster. He was going to take a three-hour shower when this was over. If he survived. 

Cyborg and Beast Boy were doing their best to protect Robin and Starfire (the former was tending to the latter's injuries), but they could only do so much against the relentless tide, even when they used their normal abilities on top of their special weapons.

Beast Boy's griffin form crushed two more bone-mane creatures under his claws, but he was getting tired.

"Damn!" Cyborg said as a little demon leapt over him and headed for the couple. "ROBIN!"

Robin turned just as the little creature leapt for his face. He yelled and managed to grab it, throwing it away, but it got back up, pulling out a small dagger and jumping again…

And then a green bolt blew it apart. Robin blinked, and then turned back to where Starfire was. She had slung her bow over her shoulder before she had caught Robin, and when he had looked away she had pulled it back off and fired.

"Let's go Robin." She said. "Let's show them the true meaning of hell."

"Hey wait a sec. Where's Noel?" Cyborg asked.

* * *

Savior stared at the demonic countenance that Raven now possessed, the orb-gun at his side. 

"Poor boy. I guess to you, looks matter." Raven said, laughing.

"You're not Raven."

"I knew you would say that. I am boy. I am her true self. Don't you love me any more?"

"You're not Raven's true self. You're everything she despises. I know what she would want, and I'll do it!" Savior yelled, jerking the gun up.

Black energy encased it and it flew out of his hands. Before he could react the daggers were also yanked away from him. Raven smirked.

"Poor boy. Fated to love something like me."

Savior fumbled for his case of holy water, but Raven laughed and raised her arm. The box was yanked out of his grip and crushed, the water falling onto the ground and hissing. Savior looked at his last weapon vanishing, and then he turned hard eyes on Raven.

"Only thing left for you is the sword…" Raven said.

Savior leapt at Raven.

And stopped dead, encased in black power.

"And you won't be getting to that."

Beams of force flew out of Raven's eyes and slammed into Savior. The black energy released him as he staggered back, and then Raven threw twin black bolts of force, slamming into his chest and face and throwing him backwards. He bounced along the ground and was still.

Raven walked over to him. So easy to hurt him. It was almost boring. Indeed, she seemed to have really hit him hard in the face: he was holding his mouth like it was about to fall off.

He tried to get up as she approached, but three bands of black energy appeared over him, pinning him down. He grunted and then Raven leaned down, looking into his face.

Flashbacks of his long ago dream flowed through Savior's head as Ravens stroked his cheek.

"And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, and the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor, and thy soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor…" Raven said, quoting Poe as she leaned right down to Savior as if she was going to give him a farewell kiss, even as one of her hands glowed with the telekinetic bolt that would crush his skull. "Shall be lifted…"

And Savior sprayed the holy water he had drunk out of the last vial, the vial that had been in his pocket, out of his mouth and right into Raven's face. She screamed and recoiled, grabbing at her face as it burned. She had been wrong. He hadn't been grabbing his face in pain. He'd been drinking the vial and concealing it from her. Savior flipped up to his feet.

"Let that be our sign of parting, not bird but fiend that has been upstarting! Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonium Shore!" Savior yelled, mangling some of Poe's work as he threw strands of the Shimmer out, wrapping them around the demon Raven. "Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken! Leave my love for her unbroken, QUIT THE BUST ABOVE MY DOOR!"

And Savior threw Raven into the Fang, still impaled into the rock. She struck it and screamed as the power within it lanced out and blasted her, throwing her up and away.

Savior saw her land, and looked to see if she was dying. No, she was just stunned, as he had gambled. But she was down for now.

Rage flowed through him. He'd had to hurt Raven. Trigon would pay!

Savior walked up to the sword and pulled it out, and then started for the demon lord.

* * *

"Trigon, king in thy own mind, yet without the power to e'en ME bind! I must know now and so I query, does this great struggle make you merry?" Etrigan laughed as he dodged another force beam from Trigon's eyes. Trigon roared and held out his hands. Ravens spewed from his palms, evil demonic versions of the bird. In a flurry of wings, claws, and beaks, they attacked Etrigan. 

"I wish I had my own clairvoyance, else I could avoid this new annoyance!" Etrigan said as he spewed fire from within him, burning the birds to ash as dark as their feathers. But the ravens provided the distraction that Trigon needed as he swung his fist, smashing Etrigan across the black landscape that continued to creep outward from what had once been the Titans' Tower.

Demons leapt onto Etrigan, but with a roar he tore them apart with his bare hands. Trigon fired beams at him again, but Etrigan brought one hand up and the beams deflected off the fire that exploded into being on his palm. A fire he threw back at Trigon. Trigon roared as it exploded on his chest.

"Trigon, Trigon, so big and strong, but your reign will be short instead of lo-UGH!" Etrigan yelled as Trigon caught him with a fireball, blowing him across the landscape again.

"Doesn't he ever shut up?" Trigon growled, as he leapt off the stone T that the Titans Tower had become. It irked him that he had to actually move, but he would make sure Etrigan paid the price for his foolishness ten times over.

* * *

"I am starting to grow weary Robin…" Starfire said as she fired bolt after bolt at the attacking demons. Robin had long since stopped noticing individual characteristics: they were all ugly, they all wanted to kill him, and they all bled really yucky stuff. That was all he needed to know. 

Indeed, the guck they bled was starting to get into Cyborg's joints, and Beast Boy was rapidly running out of forms that could use the claws correctly. And Robin, lacking any special weapon, had quickly exhausted every tool on his utility belt just to keep the demons back. It looked bad.

The new rifts that kept opening were not helping, as Beast Boy, as a gorilla, grabbed up a demon, stabbed it, and then threw it away. The woman with knives for fingers was knocked back into the rift just as she was emerging again, a barely heard curse escaping her mouth as she failed to get out of hell again.

"Holy moly! Look at that!" Cyborg said, as a 25-foot giant who seemed to be composed entirely of black metal armour thundered towards them, stepping on any smaller demons that got in the way. Starfire opened fire on it, but it barely seemed fazed as it kept walking towards them…

And walking…

And walking…

And falling, as the giant tumbled, crushing most of the demons in front of it under its mass. Robin blinked, and then saw the back of the giant was dissolving into ash, due to the sword stuck into its back.

Savior pulled the Fang out with the Shimmer, walking over. The falling giant had cut down greatly on the number of demons attacking them, and they had finished the remaining number off by the time Savior got there.

"Here guys. Backup." Savior said, throwing the daggers and orb-gun to the Titans.

"Mine!" Beast Boy said, claiming the gun. Robin picked up the discarded clawed gloves and put them on, and Cyborg picked up the knives and attached them to his arm.

"Lead the way, Fearless." Savior said.

"Titans…" Robin began.

The rift spewed forth a new group of demons. Robin stopped his chant as the Titans attacked them. A grossly fat creature with an extended neck attacked Cyborg, but three swings of his axe hacked off the creature's arms and head. The head flew away, falling at Beast Boy's feet.

"HEY! I'LL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL! I'LL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL! I'LL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL!" The head screamed at Beast Boy's feet.

"Swallow this." He replied, and blew the head apart with the orb-gun.

The Titans were cleaning up when an even fatter and grosser creature somehow managed to cram its bulk through the rift. But no sooner did it show up then all the Titans attacked it. The woman with knives for fingers started getting out of the rift again just as the huge creature gave up the ghost and died, falling back and blocking the rift with its bulk.

"As I was saying, TITANS GO!" Robin said, as the group headed for Trigon.

* * *

Etrigan stood his ground as the fiery blasts flew at him, the heat so great it seared even him. He countered with his own blast of fire, but Trigon stopped it with a blast from his eyes and kicked Etrigan into the air. Etrigan flipped in mid-flight and threw twin fireblasts into Trigon's face. Trigon stumbled back, roaring. 

"As a young spawn I read, of your great powers while in bed. I'm almost crushed as I now find, your power had indeed declined." Etrigan chuckled.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Trigon roared, and hurled twin fireballs at Etrigan. The explosion could be seen twenty miles away, and would have sent all the Titans flying had they not dived for cover.

"Stupid rhymer! I AM TRIGON! You are nothing compared to me! No one can defeat me!"

"Then I guess we're no one!"

Starfire and Beast Boy opened fire as Trigon turned around, blasting his eyes. He roared, covering them as he tried to counter. Showing more guts then brains, Cyborg charged in and buried the axe into Trigon's foot. Trigon bellowed again and fired beams of force at Cyborg, but he missed due to the angle, and Cyborg attacked again by ramming the daggers into the limb. This time, Trigon used a claw swipe, and that didn't miss as it sent Cyborg flying into a rock face, the daggers breaking off in Trigon's foot, as Cyborg hadn't had a chance to pull his arm out.

"YOU FOOLS! I WILL INCINERATE YOU!" Trigon roared, throwing a fireball at Starfire. He missed, and when Starfire fired another arrow at Trigon's face, Robin leapt up to Trigon's side via his staff and clawed a four-foot wound across his stomach. Trigon roared again. Robin noticed that when evil demon gods and their ilk ran into trouble, they tended to do a lot of roaring and yelling about how they would utterly destroy their enemies.

Then Beast Boy shot Trigon in his still open mouth. The noise that Trigon made definitely indicated that hurt. Beast Boy then showed great brains by dropping the gun and turning into a cheetah, running like hell while Trigon fired after him. This proved to be a brilliant tactical move, as Etrigan made his grand return by jumping on Trigon's face and clawing at his eyes and the chakra in his forehead. Beast Boy ran back, grabbed up the gun, and continued to fire. Cyborg returned, worse for wear but still ready to fight, and the Titans flew, ran, and jumped around Trigon as they attacked where they could.

In the back of his head though, Robin was puzzling over something. Jason Blood had said their weapons were "too weak" to hurt Trigon. Yet they seemed to be working. Perhaps Jason had been off? Because their weapons seemed to be just as effective as the sword…wait a second, where had Noel disappeared to?

"ENOUGH!" Trigon bellowed as he threw Etrigan into the T-Tower. He roared and held up his hands above his head as fire exploded on them, and then he fired his force beams into the balls. Lasers and fire blasts radiated out from his hands and laid waste to the surrounding landscape, blowing Starfire out of the air again and nearly incinerating Beast Boy and Robin. And thought they didn't die, the attack still left all the Titans down and nearly out, their bodies burned and bloody.

Trigon lowered his arms, breathing heavily. This was absurd. He was being forced to expend effort, and that…

"TRIGON!"

Trigon's ears pricked up, and he turned to look at the voice.

On a chunk of rock that pointed to the sky stood Savior, the Fang in hand. Trigon cocked his head.

"So, the fool who decided to sacrifice himself for love arrives. I will enjoy killing you." Trigon said, and fired his force beams. Savior threw the sword up to protect him, and it did deflect the blast somewhat, but the general attack was just too strong and sent Savior flying backwards. Trigon laughed.

He stopped laughing when Savior got back up, and it was then he took a good look at the sword, and finally recognized it for what it was.

"No…who are you to oppose me?"

"Are you a god?" Savior asked. Trigon arched one of his eyebrows. That was an unusual question, but the answer was obvious.

"YES!" he thundered.

"Well then, the name of the blade is who I am. I am he who would dare bear fangs at God!" Savior yelled, and ran.

Trigon snorted and raised his hand, combining two of his attacks as he summoned his demonic ravens again. But instead of attacking him, they flew at Savior like projectiles, striking the ground and erupting into demon fire. Explosions detonated around Savior as he charged.

Trigon growled and added his other hand to the firing, but even as blasts erupted all around him Savior didn't back down.

And then a fire blast exploded across Trigon's face. Trigon roared in surprise as Etrigan laughed.

"Curse that I must ever rhyme, but dodge now or you will have no time!" Etrigan said. Trigon blinked. It wasn't possible…

Savior leapt up via the Shimmer and slashed across Trigon's chest, opening up a seven foot wound. Trigon's bellow shook the heavens, as Savior flipped and turned…

And was encased in black energy. For a second Savior thought Raven was back, but it wasn't her, it was Trigon, holding his wound with one hand and reaching out with the other as he gripped Savior with whatever power he was using.

"You dare. You DARE!" Trigon bellowed. "You dare hurt me? I am Trigon the Terrible! LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO FEEL PAIN!"

Trigon clenched his fist.

Savior thought he had felt pain before, but what he had felt was nothing compared to the soul-rending torment that tore through him, reaching deep into the core of his being and exploding with an agony that was almost beyond comprehension. Savior opened his mouth but no scream came out, even as the pain swelled to a climax and then ended with a sudden, shattering blast as he fell backwards, feeling as if all his bones were gone and his muscles has been bathed in acid.

The Titans watched in horror, unable to do anything in the two seconds where the black energy clenched and then tore away from Savior, pulling something with it.

Something white that writhed and thrashed as it appeared in Trigon's hand, like a wounded animal.

"Good god…" Cyborg said.

"Trigon…ripped the Shimmer right out of Noel." Robin said.

Trigon roared his laughter and threw the material aside, the white line still thrashing. Savior was down and he wasn't getting up, as Trigon summoned a new fireball to finish the job.

"NO!"

The blasts from Starfire's and Beast Boy's weapons, Cyborg's sonic cannon, and one last remaining freeze disc from Robin slammed into Trigon's side, throwing off his aim, but the fireball still exploded near Savior and he vanished from sight. Satisfied that if he wasn't dead he was probably close enough, Trigon turned back to the Titans, his anger growing again. These children had actually hurt him, and they refused to surrender! To a being like Trigon, that had conquered millions of worlds without much effort, this was an affront beyond his tolerance. This time, they WOULD die.

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled.

"Yes, GO TO YOUR DEATH!" Trigon roared, and fired twin blasts of power out of his arms. The Titans tried to counter with their weapons, but his blast cut through it and exploded in their midst, throwing them around like rag dolls.

"Now I will…"

"Here here is Etrigan, your enemy who is more then man!" came the yell, and then Etrigan leapt onto Trigon's head again, sending blasts of demon fire into his skull. Trigon roared and clawed at the annoyance, taking several powerful blasts to his hand so that he could grab Etrigan. This time he didn't throw him, he held him in his hand and summoned a fireball with Etrigan still there. The fireball detonated instantly, throwing Etrigan into the air, and Trigon blew him out of the sky with his force beams, sending him across the landscape again.

Why did he have to do this himself? Where were his minions, his daughter? He should not have to suffer the humiliation of having to deal with such insects, especially ones that has actually hurt him before…

Trigon's jaw dropped. The Titans were still alive. And they were getting up again, finding something in themselves that Trigon had never thought was possible.

"Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve, are mortal and e'er doomed to grieve, but perhaps due to their briefest time, their potential's far beyond our kind!" Etrigan said, getting up himself. Trigon looked around.

He couldn't believe he had to do this, but it had become apparent that if this kept on he might actually be in trouble. And he would rather resort to this then be like that.

Robin had puzzled on how the "lesser" weapons had managed to harm Trigon. The truth was, being a demon, territory was very important when it came to power. When he had overwhelmed his daughter's annoying human side and banished it, her summoning him had given him an automatic foothold in this realm, a foothold he had immediately begun spreading with a simple use of his power. He didn't like doing this, but being imprisoned in the Nether-verse had weakened him, and he needed to regain his strength. But, even weakened, he was certain that the small amount of territory he had claimed would allow him enough power to deal with any problems until he had corrupted the whole planet. Once he had that foothold, his power would quickly be restored to its former peak, and nothing would be able to stop him.

But his current territory, for lack of a better term, had failed to provide enough "battery power" to defeat the Titans. Therefore, he had no choice but to speed up the process and corrupt the whole planet instantly.

But to do THAT, he'd have to cast another spell, and that spell would use pretty much all of his current power, but once it was completed it would be returned to him tenfold. Then he would be truly invincible, and crush the Titans and any others who would dare oppose him.

Trigon growled, a growl that build to a roar as he threw his hands up into the air, as black and red power exploded on them, blasts and bolt crackling around him. He spoke in a language that no human had ever heard, a language that they were incapable of understanding.

But Etrigan understood it, and he knew.

"I am a demon, I have my pride, to humans I give little mind. But for mankind, I have a plan! And it shall not stop! SO SWEARS ETRIGAN!" Etrigan roared as he spewed fire from his mouth. But the fire stopped before it could strike Trigon. There was simply too much power around him.

Trigon poured all his power into the spell, and it began. The slow crawl of the blackness that had consumed the T-Tower, the island, and some of Jump City suddenly became an insane push, the darkness blasting over the city in an instant and to the cities beyond. Trigon could feel the reality shifting to his wavelength, felt more portals opening up as demons beyond number arrived to their new kingdom.

Raven floated up, laughing.

"Yes father! YES!"

"You young who take the name of those, who gave birth to the gods of Greece, the time towards final fight now flows! Do not fail now, or we're all fleeced!" Etrigan roared, leaping at Trigon. But the invisible barrier that had blocked his fire also blocked him, throwing him away. He bounced along the ground, swearing in some demon tongue.

"You heard him, ATTACK!" Robin yelled, and the Titans charged.

Until black energy encased them, stopping them dead. Smiling, Raven floated down.

"Enough. It is time. Enjoy this sight Titans, it will be the last one you ever have." Raven said.

* * *

Trigon continued his spell, feeling the drain but knowing he had won. There was no one left to oppose him. No one… 

A bloody hand appeared, reaching up and grabbing a ridge in front of Trigon. Trigon blinked, and then another arm appeared, holding a sword despite the fact that it was so burned it looked ready to fall off. No, it couldn't be…

Noel pulled himself up onto the ridge, clutching the Fang. He didn't know how he was still standing, but he knew what he had to do.

"My god, Noel's still alive." Beast Boy said.

"And he has the sword! Go Noel! You can do this!" Robin said.

"Stupid, stupid child." Trigon said, recovering from his mild shock. "You still stand? Fool, you should have let yourself die. It would be a mercy compared to what I plan to do to you for your impudence."

"I may just surprise you." Noel replied, even as a bolt of power swept by him and turned everything to his right side to black ash.

"Believe that. But there is nothing left for you to do. That blade cannot defeat me!"

"No, it can't." Noel said, as he remembered what Etrigan had said. For all the strength of the blade, it required something more.

_"Young boy named Christmas, now I tell  
Of this the weapon to banish hell  
The Fang is ever many things  
Halberds, swords, and magic rings._

_But know now this! There is a price!  
That must be paid once but not twice  
To slay Trigon, no minor deed  
The blood of the purest heart must bleed."_

"But I know what might." Noel said, raising the sword. _Perhaps this is doomed to failure, perhaps it always was…but I'll do it anyway! For this world, the Titans, and Raven!_

Trigon watched as Noel raised the sword some more…and then turned it around.

"What?"

"Noel what are you DOING!" Robin screamed.

And then Noel drove the sword through his own chest, piercing the blade right through him. All the Titans and Trigon gaped at this act.

Noel shuddered, staggering.

"So you choose the coward's path after all. How human of you." Trigon said, as Noel fell to one knee, blood pouring from his chest.

The shuddering that came from Noel suddenly stopped.

And then Noel moved one of his hands and began pulling the blade back out.

"I gave the Fang as was our bargain, but sure as I'm not Etrtragan, but not a moment did I hope, that vict'ry would favor that dope!" Etrigan said.

Gritting his teeth so hard his jaw cracked, Noel pulled the Fang back out of his chest, the sword slick with his blood. Heart's blood. Slowly, he turned the sword around and gripped the handle.

Blood leaked from between his teeth.

"I'll…" Noel whispered, as he took a step.

And then he stopped, falling over onto his side, the Fang falling from his hand and clattering onto the ground. He had exerted every bit of strength of will he had, but he couldn't overcome his own body's limitations.

"Oh no…Noel…" Starfire said, tears leaking from her eyes as his teammate made the ultimate sacrifice, all in vain.

Trigon chuckled, and then he threw back his head and roared his laughter. Evil, triumphant laughter.

* * *

"What is it that the losers say? 'Its not who wins, its how they play'. But I know now, with Noel's death, we have all taken our last breath." Etrigan said. Perhaps he would survive, but he had a feeling that the human race had just seen its end. Soon they'd be little more then souls for Trigon to play with. Even the mightiest metahumans would be no match for Trigon's dark powers… 

Then some movement caught his eye. He turned his head and saw the energy, a tangled coil of line, thrashing around. Noel's power, the Shimmer. They had theorized that the energy seemed to possess some kind of self-awareness, a sentience of sorts, and the way it moved suggested they had been right: not a power that Noel called upon but a living creature separated from its host.

At least until it floated up into the air and then flew off towards Trigon.

(Writer's Note: For the upcoming dramatic moment, you'll know it when you see it, if any of you have actually seen a certain cartoon, please imagine the dramatic tune done by flutes that played at the end of Digimon Season 4 when Sasuroomon or whatever his name was formed).

"I see, I hear, I taste, I smell, and now I say 'What in HELL?'" Etrigan said. And then, driven by a weird urge, he chased after the Shimmer to see.

The Shimmer flew through the air, even as the light that came from the Fang grew brighter as it too floated up, the blood on it vanishing. Trigon looked at it.

"What?"

The Shimmer flew past him, spiraled up the rock face that Noel had collapsed on, and then picked up Noel as light exploded from the Fang. Noel floated upward in front of Trigon.

"NO! WHAT IS THIS!" Trigon yelled.

"What's going on? What happened?" Beast Boy said as the ground began to rumble.

"I always thought that he would fail, I knew in pain that he would flail, but I thought the duty then would fall, to another more pure without his gall." Etrigan said.

And the Fang flew backwards, touching Noel's chest and then absorbing into him as light exploded from him and the Shimmer as it reconnected with Noel, beams of radiance flying out and all over the place.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Raven shrieked as one of the beams grazed her, and her black energy holding the Titans shattered as she recoiled away from it, even as the shining light flew up till it was level with Trigon's face.

"Logic and reason have been shirked! His impossible plan! It worked! IT WORKED!" Etrigan said, as he arrived near the Titans.

"What happened?" Robin said.

Etrigan's voice took on a wistful quality as he recited.

_"But know now this! There is a price!  
That must be paid once but not twice  
To slay Trigon, no minor deed  
The purest blood away must bleed._

_I told him this, he knew the threat  
In a thousand years I'd never bet  
That alone he would succeed  
But now THIS! The impossible deed!_

_The sword by mortal hands is wielded  
Against his fate his is unshielded  
But now the sword and he are one  
I know not how this deed is done!_

_The Fang had users, pure and chaste  
Always their blood was put to waste  
Their lifeblood left, the demon's scheme  
Put them in eternal dream_

_But now I see him use the Fang  
And what's more, he and it are one  
He now shall defeat the demon gangs  
And all who worship Lord Trigon!"_

Noel opened his eyes, his whole body encased with white glowing power that flowed and shimmered off him.

Trigon clenched his teeth and then roared in pure rage. This wasn't happening!

"It doesn't matter what you do, boy! This world is mine now! I AM ITS GOD!" Trigon bellowed as six holes ripped open in the air around him and demons poured out. "BOW TO ME!"

The demons charged at the floating Noel, who just cocked his head and looked at them.

And then he thrust out his arms, and a myriad of Shimmer lines flew out, tearing through the hordes and burning them to ash. Trigon's jaw dropped in surprise, and then the lines impaled through his shoulders.

"NO!"

Noel flew at Trigon, holding out one arm as a blade of light extended from it and grew to giant proportions as he made his final attack against Trigon, who was in the final moments of his spell and could do nothing more to defend himself.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The blade of light slashed out, and brilliance exploded off of Trigon, blinding the Titans and stopping all the demons in their tracks.

The light then faded, revealing Noel back to the way he was, battered, bruised, and bloody, standing on Trigon's forehead via the Shimmer and with the Fang buried in Trigon's chakra, piercing into his forehead. He looked down into Trigon's eyes.

"Go back to hell."

And then he twisted the sword, like a key opening a door. Trigon screamed in rage and fury as reality tore apart behind him, revealing a shimmering mass of dark colours that humans could barely comprehend.

A giant wind started up, as the demons summoned by Trigon were pulled back into the realm they had escaped, squealing and screaming their futile defiance. The corrupting taint Trigon had sent out stopped and then reversed itself, reality reverting to what it had been.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Raven shrieked, as she hunched over, as if trying to resist the wind. "NO, I HAD IT! I…AIYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

And then the red flesh ripped right off of Raven's body, the new eyes literally ceasing to exist as she returned to her human form. The flesh flew off her and barely managed to stop, forming into a crude human shape.

"This is not possible! I am your true self! I cannot be banished…!" the floating red flesh somehow wailed as Raven turned around, rage burning in her eyes.

"You are not my true self. You are everything I despise. This world and I will not tolerate your presence!"

"Raven, I am you! I will always be you! Accept it and let me…"

"NEVERMORE!" Raven screamed, slamming her hand out and smashing her demonic side, literally tore from her flesh and soul, with the power she possessed, a power she had due to her birth father, but a power she would no longer stand to be tainted by his evil. Her evil side wailed as it was cast out, flying into the rift.

"THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING! A HUMAN CANNOT DEFEAT ME! I AM TRIGON! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Trigon bellowed as he was pulled backwards towards the rip, back into his old prison. Noel could feel the terrible darkness and cold in the rip, and knew he had to leave.

"Trigon, it's not impossible. It's inevitable."

And Noel yanked the Fang out. There was one final burst of light, as the island the Titans were on returned to its normal state, the T-Tower becoming steel and glass once more, and one final scream of anger and defiance as Trigon was pulled back into the Nether-verse.

Then the rift closed shut, and all was silent.

* * *

"Sons of Adam, Daughter of Eve, doomed to die and doomed to grieve, against all odds you triumphed yet, and now you have earned my respect." Etrigan said, as the Titans finally allowed themselves to relax, exhaustion and pain overwhelming most of them. But they had won, and it was truly a sweet thing. 

"Raven!" Starfire said, looking at her restored comrade. Raven was going to go check on her friends and then leave, but Starfire saw her and flew over, giving her a hug.

"You are yourself again! I am so glad!"

"You're…not mad at me?" Raven said, confused.

"For what? For being unable to resist your father? Raven, he's an extradimensional demon. You're human. You did all you could, and in the end, you didn't get banished with him. That's all I need to know." Robin said.

"Are you ok Rae?" Beast Boy asked.

"Ugh…that physical separation with my evil side shell-shocked me…I think I'll need some rest before I can use my powers again…but they should come back. They are mine, not his."

"Good. But I'm just curious though. Will this be happening again any time soon? Because I'll be a little less prone to forgive you if this is a yearly thing or something." Beast Boy said.

"Hey, we have…oh god, Noel!" Robin said. In the distance he could see Etrigan had gone to something, and the Titans ran over there.

Noel was on the ground, his eyes flickering. The Fang lay on the ground nearby.

"Noel! Oh no, what happened?" Robin said.

"Noel…oh god Noel…" Raven said, kneeling down next to the badly injured Titan.

"Trigon…is he…?"

"Gone. You did it Noel. You saved me." Raven said.

"We all saved you…I'm just glad I could…" Noel said, coughing.

"Noel, let me heal…"

"No…too late…"

"No, don't talk like that! You'll be fine!" Robin said.

"Yes, Raven can heal your terrible life-threatening wounds which you stupidly inflicted on yourself!" Starfire said.

"No…"

"Why did you do this, Noel?" Raven asked.

"Because no matter what our future could be…I wanted to make sure you HAD a future Raven…and that's enough…" Noel said as he eyes started to close.

"NO! NO!" Raven yelled.

"In the end, I just hoped…I surprised you…"

And then his eyes closed, his head going limp against the ground.

"Noel…oh no…" Raven said.

"But know now this, there is a price, that must be paid once but not twice. To slay Trigon, no minor deed, the purest heart away must bleed." Etrigan repeated as he looked at Noel's body. "Never before, in all my time, have I seen so great an evil slain, by one so born of primordial slime, of purest heart and soul and brain."

Raven looked up at Etrigan.

"Born of lust, but now true love, that greatest thing below and above, made his goal pure, and pow'r the same, and next to that Trigon was lame." Etrigan went on. "Born of Adam, born of Eve, his fate to die, his fate to grieve. His power pure and very great…yet he could not avoid his fate."

"Oh no…Noel…" Starfire said, her eyes starting to tear up. Beast Boy sniffed, about to start crying himself.

"No, I will not let it end like this!" Robin said, pushing Raven aside. He looked at the blood-soaked cut in Noel's shirt where he had stabbed himself and grabbed it. If he had to crack open Noel's chest and massage his heart back to life while holding the wound closed he'd…

Robin tore the shirt open.

And found no wound. Not even a scar. The blood on the shirt was from before, not now, and as Robin goggled at this, Noel opened his eyes.

"Surprise." He said.

"What! Oh Noel you're all right! YOU ASSHOLE!" Raven screamed, first hugging Noel and then punching him across the face. "I OUGHTTA KILL YOU FOR THAT!"

"Noel is not harmed! He will live!" Starfire said, doing her own hug. "But that was stupid you clorbak valgranuk!" she added, stepping on his foot.

"OW! Hey guys stop it, you really will kill me!" Noel said.

"DON'T tempt me." Robin said, grimacing at Noel. Noel cowered, and then the look softened.

"As stupid as that trick was Noel, we're all glad you're all right. You beat Trigon."

"Hey, I said what I meant. I couldn't have done it without you. We all beat Trigon. I just…played a fairly major role." Noel said, walking over and picking up the Fang. "And it's good to have you back too, old friend." Noel added as the Shimmer sprang from his right hand. It moved around him, almost like it was dancing with joy.

Clapping suddenly attracted the Titans' attention, and then turned to look at Jason Blood, giving them applause.

"You truly did do well, all of you. And I'm glad I could help." Jason said.

"Who's he?" Beast Boy said, pointing.

"That's Etrigan's other side, Beast Boy." Robin replied.

"What? Geez, why would he ever want to switch? That Etrigan is one ugly…!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Cyborg said. Beast Boy sighed.

"So…what happens now?" Noel asked.

"You did not kill Trigon, unfortunately. But you struck him a mortal wound, and when he was expending most of his power in order to corrupt this planet. It will take him time to regroup, and he will have to start anew in trying to escape the Nether-verse. Also, there are beings in the Nether-verse that may want to take advantage of his weakened state. Trigon is a cunning foe, but I think it may be a while before you are bothered by him again."

"Care to give an exact time frame on that?" Cyborg asked.

"Such things are forever in doubt. It may be a year, it may be a decade, it may be an eon. But know for now, you have won. And for that you have my thanks and respect."

"We also still have your weapons. Here." Robin said, giving Jason the clawed gloves back. The other Titans had lost their weapons, but a quick search of the battlefield turned up all but one of the daggers that Cyborg had used on Trigon.

"It does not matter. There are others where those came from." Blood replied when Robin apologized for being unable to find the weapon.

"And this belongs to you as well. I think it would be best if you kept it in your possession." Noel said, giving Jason back the Fang.

"Indeed. For a power does not have to be dark and evil in nature to corrupt." Jason said, putting the sword in the special bag he had gotten from somewhere and the one he had put the other weapons in. "And with that, I bid you farewell."

And Jason Blood disappeared into the night. After he was gone, Beast Boy took a long sniff of the air.

"Ah, I love the smell of napalm in the evening. Smells like…victory."

"That is not napalm Beast Boy. That is the smell of the Tower. Raven trashed a good part of it, remember?" Starfire said, pointing.

"What? OH NO! OH NO!" Beast Boy and Cyborg yelled, taking off. The remaining Titans glanced at Raven, who blushed deeply. "Sorry." She said.

The remaining Titans followed the running two into the Tower, and caught up to them in the lounge.

"REJOICE EVERYONE! The Gamestation is unharmed!" Beast Boy whooped.

Everyone else facevaulted.

* * *

Some time later, Noel was resting outside on one of the rocks. He was still too charged on adrenaline to sleep, and also, his bed had been right in Raven's path when she had gone through the ceiling. So he lay on his back and stared at the stars and the moon, thinking about how much prettier the night was in comparison to some things. 

He didn't so much see her as he sensed her, but before he could get up Raven actually sat down next to him.

"Hello Raven. Feeling ok?" Noel said, leaning on one arm so he could look at her.

"Yes. How about you?"

"I'll live."

"Yes, I guess so." Raven replied.

There was no more conversation, so Noel laid back down on the rock and continued looking at the stars.

"Noel…remember what I said?"

"About what?"

"About us…"

Noel didn't reply, unable to think of anything to say. He was about to get back up again when Raven suddenly shifted and laid down on top of him, looking into his face as she pulled her hood back.

"Surprise." She said, and then she kissed him. This time, she didn't pull away, and this was no dream. Just Raven.

And indeed, her lips were slightly bitter, but also quite sweet.

Noel reached up, pulling her to him, and she responded, finally free to express herself as she wanted, with nothing getting in the way.

And nothing floated, and nothing exploded. All that happened was a couple momentarily forgetting their powers and their backgrounds and finding peace and happiness through themselves.

* * *

The two were oblivious to the outside world as they finally lost themselves in the other, but what happened was so quick that they probably wouldn't have noticed it. 

On the ground nearby lay the dagger that the Titans had missed, the blade still slick with Trigon's blood. And so it lay there.

Until the hand darted from the shadows. Literally. A hand emerged from darkness itself to scoop up the dagger. A face, born from the same shadows, peeked out, looking at the dagger and then up at the couple. Raven was considered pale, but this man surpassed even her with the amount of time not spent in the sun. He looked at the two for a few seconds and then literally vanished back into the darkness.

When he re-emerged, he was no longer on the island, but on a building several hundred feet away, on the docks. He had not walked or flown there, or swam or boated. He had moved through the shadows themselves, and he re-emerged on the roof.

The redheaded female started when he showed up. The black-haired female did not, indeed she didn't react at all. Possibly because of the bandage tied around her eyes.

"Well well, I guess you weren't just playing voyeur, were you?" the redhead said, looking bitterly over at the island. She couldn't see it at the moment, but a moment ago she had tracked her comrade's progress via some powerful binoculars, and she had seen the embracing couple. It made her feel sick, and angry inside.

"What has Shadowmaster brought, Sizzle?" the blindfolded girl said in a quiet, mousy tone. The way she spoke always creeped Sizzle out. Then again, a lot of things creeped her out.

"You got me, maybe the boss will know it is. He sent him." Sizzle said.

The one who had grabbed the dagger, known as Shadowmaster, slipped over and handed the dagger to the blindfolded girl so she could feel it.

"Don't touch the blade." Said a new voice.

"What's so great about that anyway?" Sizzle complained. "We could have been discovered!"

"That blade is coated with the blood of the high demon Trigon. It will be a crucial piece in my plan. Well done Shadowmaster."

The very pale man nodded. Sizzle grimaced.

"Here master. Take it." The blindfolded girl said, getting up and walking over to the figure that faced away from the roof.

"Thank you Murdercrow." The figure said, taking the dagger.

"Well, what now?" Sizzle asked.

"Yes master, what are we to do now?" Murdercrow inquired.

The figure slid the dagger into a small jar that would keep the blood fresh. But not for long. Indeed, considering how long the dagger had lain there before Shadowmaster had been able to fetch it, he was surprised it was still wet. Maybe demon blood was different somehow.

The man put the jar away and pulled the sword out of the ground, turning towards the T-Tower and sliding the katana into the sheath on his back.

"I think it's time to remind these children why they should fear the night."

* * *

I would like to give credit where credit is due: all of Etrigan's lines were written by my fellow author BobCat. Go read his stuff. Now. 

Next: JUSTICE!


	28. Savior and Raven: Heart's Blood

Chapter 28: Heart's Blood

"Laugh." Raven said to her mirror.

A couple of days had gone by since Trigon had been banished. After the sweetest kiss she had ever had in her life, Raven had withdrawn again, but this time for a reason. Indeed, Noel seemed to understand, as he had not protested, or felt pain or sadness when she had left.

But she hadn't had the time for her reason until now. The past couple of days had been all cleaning up the Tower, telling various people what the hell had happened, and dealing with new crimes. Ah, humans. Only they, after literally being in the grip of a true devil, could go right back to damning their souls with their foul deeds.

But night had fallen, and at last she had the time. She was alone.

Really. Robin and Starfire were treating themselves to a night out, while also testing a device that allowed Starfire to appear as a human. It worked pretty well: even Raven hadn't recognized Starfire when she had turned it on. Beast Boy and Cyborg, on the other hand, had left to see the finals for an arcade tournament. It was just her…

And Noel, but he was leaving her alone. It warmed her. After all they'd done to each other, he seemed to posses a great understanding of her.

But what she needed to do now was understand herself.

She had noticed that when she had kissed him, nothing had happened. And it wasn't because she wasn't feeling anything. Indeed, the passion that had roared through her when she had finally given in was so intense she almost thought she was going to explode.

And nothing had happened.

What was this? A gift from some higher power? Or…just a coincidence of what had happened?

Her emotions were the strongest link to her father. And the closer he got to her reality, the stronger he grew within her. Indeed, once he had had almost been out of the Nether-Verse, he had been able to exert enough influence on her so that her demonic side had taken over.

But that side was gone now, literally torn from her body and banished alongside her father. Blood had said that eventually Trigon would return, and assumingly his influence would as well, but it could be years and years before it happened…

Did that mean…she could finally feel?

That was what she had to find out.

"Laugh." She said to the mirror.

She wanted to do it too, but it was alien to her. She was just so used to repressing anything she felt, that her body did most of it automatically. But she NEEDED to feel something. She had to see what happened.

She tried to think of funny things…and realized that could take a while. Noel made bad puns on purpose, Kory's innocence was more annoying and sad then funny to her, Robin was usually too serious, and Beast Boy made so many bad jokes that any humour was quickly replaced by…

Wait, she remembered something.

A battle a few months ago, Beast Boy had actually gotten off a really good line. It was inevitable she supposed: if you keep throwing seeds eventually one is going to sprout. But really, it had been a good line, a well-executed pun with impeccable timing. She had cracked a grin, though he hadn't seen it, and she had quickly beaten down the reaction before something bad could happen.

So she thought of the situation, and the motion Gar had made, and the line…

"Hee..ha ha…" Raven said as it started bubbling out. She thought of it some more.

"Ha ha ha…ha ha…" Raven said. _Man, I'm turning into the Joker!_ Raven thought. The thought made her giggle, and then recalled a story Robin had told in which something genuinely funny had happened with the Joker: a crazy surgeon, to get revenge on the lunatic, had performed a surgery on the Joker that had put his mouth on the back of his head! And Joker had run around yelling how Batman had stolen his smile! Ok that was actually very disturbing but the idea of Joker's confusion as he tried to figure out what had happened…

And that was it, as Raven cracked up, pounding on the desk as tears came from her eyes. She remembered another amusing conversation where Savior and Cyborg had been arguing about something and Noel had ripped into a view that science had only been discovered in the last 2000 years. Noel had ranted about how if this was true, a lot of other things didn't make sense because science would have been a necessary factor in their creation. He had referenced the pyramids as an example, pointing out that to build such a complicated structure with such primitive tools would have required a very keen grasp of science, and if science had not been discovered, what had the Egyptians been doing? It hadn't been the argument but a supposed "guess" on what these non-science-knowing Egyptians had supposedly been doing while building the pyramids that had been so funny, as Noel had gotten up, slumped his shoulders like he was holding a very heavy object, and then walked forward. The following sentence he had spoken as he continued his example may not have seemed all that funny, but the way he said it and the tone he used had struck her as extremely amusing.

"Put the stone on the block. Put the stone on the block. Some day this will make a thing." Noel had said, describing at what these supposed non-science using Egyptians must have been doing if they hadn't been using science to build the pyramids . Something in the way he had said "make a thing"…you just had to be there.

Raven went from laughing to howling, barely being able to keep up her observations. When her mirth finally faded, she looked around the room.

Nothing. No damage. She blinked, amazed. After all these years…

She needed to do more tests. She had to test her anger.

That came easier. Raven just thought of some of the villains they had fought recently. Asphyxiation, and his cocky arrogance on how he had every right to kill "the pretty birdies". Killjoy, and the way he had wanted to kill her friends just because…it was something to do. Her own father, the bane of her existence, and the reason she had to deny her feelings for Noel and everything for so long…it didn't take long before Raven was absolutely seething. She looked around.

The Tower was not shaking, OR breaking. Indeed, even the desk she was sitting at remained still. She looked at a pencil sitting on the desk, and for a moment it levitated up and then fell, unharmed, as it rolled off the desk. Raven felt her self-induced anger fading as she marveled.

She was free.

What was her father doing? Was he curled in some corner licking his wounds? Or trying to stave off another ambitious dark power that would love to claim Trigon's power for his own? Whatever he was doing, it appeared he was too busy to exert any influence on his daughter. So, for the time being, she was free.

But how long would it last?

Raven gave that some thought, and then decided that she didn't know, but she was going to enjoy it as long as she could.

She picked up her mirror from where she had set it down, gazing into it. Now that she knew about herself, she wondered what to do next. She had never been in a relationship before. Hell, she had never really had a close FRIENDSHIP before. Her need to keep herself in control had always raised barriers. But now…

Emotions…

Such strange things. She had seen the marvelous things they could do…and the terrible things as well. Which would be her path? Her…and Noel's…

Then she knew what she had to do. So many people could go through their lifetime, and never really KNOW their partners…but she was different…

Raven got up, walking towards the wall, and as she vanished into the shadows, another thought occurred to her.

Was she bringing a gift…or a curse?

The T-Tower, as mentioned, was empty except for Noel and Raven. And while Raven was testing herself, Noel was hanging out on the still not fully repaired roof. A few days had passed, and though he had recovered from the Trigon experience, he didn't much like expending effort. So he lay on his back and looked at the stars, as he quietly sang to himself.

"In heaven there is no beer…" Noel sang. He hated alcohol: the taste was terrible and he didn't like the idea of putting poison in his body for a few brief moments of escape from whatever pain he suffered. But he liked the song, and so he quietly sang it to himself.

"That's why we drink it here…and when we are gone from here…our friends will be drinking all the beer…"

"Oh great. Just when I think I know you, you turn into Arthur."

Noel sat up as Raven appeared out of the shadows, holding something.

"Hello Raven."

"Hello Noel." Raven replied. "Can we talk?"

"Certainly." Noel said, and Raven sat down next to him. Raven looked down at what she was holding, and Noel saw it was a mirror. It looked familiar, but Noel couldn't put his finger on why.

"I've…never done anything like this…" Raven said, suddenly feeling very shy.

"Hey…" Noel said, taking her hand. "I didn't go through all this just to blow it now. We'll move at whatever pace you want Raven. I'm just so glad…you feel the same way I do."

"Noel…" Raven said, looking up. "I'd…like you to do something. For me. Or us."

"Name it."

"Noel…the thing is…well, the expression that comes to mind is "'Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it'…I…but you see…you claim to love me…"

"I do."

"Yes, I know, I don't doubt that…" Raven said, trying not to hurt Noel: he was beginning to look confused. "But…I don't think you really know me…or I know you. And I don't want to start and have something you never saw or expected come along and derail this. You don't deserve to have your heart broken, Noel."

Noel looked at her solemnly, and then nodded his head.

"What do you want me to do?"

Raven blinked, and then, hoping that she was doing the right thing, held out the mirror.

"Touch this."

Noel looked at the mirror, then at Raven, and then he put his right hand on the surface.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven chanted, as dark power began swirling around Noel and her. "AZARATH! METRION! ZINTHOS!"

There was a bright flash of dark light.

When it faded, Noel was gone. And so was Raven. All that was left was the mirror, floating in the air, and a silent witness to what had passed. For a moment, it floated there.

And then it lowered, vanishing into the shadows on the ground.

Noel was in Raven's mind, and he knew he was in Raven's mind.

Cyborg and Beast Boy had spoken of their little mishap, how they have stupidly gone into Raven's room and touched her mirror, the mirror that allowed them to manifest themselves in a physical state inside Raven's brain. There, they had met some of her emotions, all manifested in absolute terms. Happy was only Happy, Brave was only Brave, and so on. Indeed, the problem had been Raven's Rage, having gotten out of control and manifesting itself as Raven's father. Raven had united with her other emotional "selves" to defeat it. Indeed, when given some thought it was all very confusing, with metaphors laying on metaphors. If one thought of Raven's brain as a separate dimension of sorts, it helped. Somewhat. Damn, even THAT made Noel's head hurt, and technically he didn't even have a head any more. Or did he? Or…argh, forget it!

He had no idea what Raven wanted him to do. He had begun on a creepy dark landscape with various rocks floating around, and with ultra creepy looking ravens which would have looked cute had they not had such big red eyes. And their voices had been creepy too. All they had said was "What will you be?" over and over. (What had they said to Cyborg and Beast Boy? "Turn Back"? Well, they hadn't been invited there, and in that case the Rage was out of control, so maybe it made sense). In any case, Noel had walked forward until he had entered a rift.

He wished he hadn't.

First of all, the place stank. Second, it just seemed to be composed of unpleasant colours, mostly browns and greens. Plus, the ground didn't seem all that solid. It felt like Noel was walking on mud. At least, he hoped it was mud.

After walking for a minute, he finally found something. Or someone. Raven. Well, not Raven. True, it looked like her, but instead of a deep purple, her cloak was orange. She was sitting on a rock, and she was…picking her nose?

Indeed she was, and Noel's jaw dropped as she removed her finger and did something rather disgusting with whatever she had removed. The orange Raven looked up.

"Oh, you must be Noel." She said, and went back to digging for gold. Noel blinked a few more times to make sure he was seeing correctly.

"Uh…what am I supposed to be doing here?"

"Beats me. I just work here." Orange said, and then burped. Noel arched an eyebrow.

"Who ARE you?"

"I'm Raven!"

"I know THAT. What PART of Raven are you?"

"What, don't like what you see? Well, live with it. The human body can make many a mess, and someone has to deal with it. Perhaps you find it crude, but it's who I am." Orange Raven said. Apparently she represented Raven's Crude side.

"I…see. Great, uh well then, which way should I go?"

"Any way you want." Crude said. She lifted a leg and made a VERY unpleasant noise. Noel almost started laughing due to the sheer surreal nature of it.

"Look, I have no answers for what you're doing. Maybe you should go speak to Joy. She's more in the know these days after what happened."

"Uh thanks."

"No problem." Crude said as she lifted her hand and began picking at her teeth. Noel made a hasty exit. He knew that humans had to do bodily functions, and that included Raven, but being confronted with such a strong example was not comforting.

Still, he knew it was just a small part of her. Just HOW small…well, small enough.

Well, he had an idea what to do, but what was Raven doing?

What Raven had done was something she had never done before.

The mirror was woven from special spells, performed by her grandmother Azar. It had been done so she could look into her mind in a way deeper then meditation, in order to keep herself in check. With her father defeated, and her emotions finally free to express themselves though, Raven had decided to tap into its magical nature to test something.

It had been hard, but she had done it: she had brought Noel into her mind, but she had also managed to project herself into HIS mind.

Now…she would see what she found there. Perhaps she might find what she feared…and what she hoped for.

But at the moment, she just wanted to find a place anywhere but here.

Noel was somewhat disciplined, but nowhere as much as she, and hence the portals of his head were more confusing and dangerous. Indeed, she had been attacked by what looked like dollar bills not two minutes into her journey, but they had been quickly shredded by a single blast of her power. But no sooner had she dealt with that threat then a new obstacle came along.

Noel's emotions, in this state, would manifest themselves in his body with the appropriate colour. But unlike hers, which tended to be in more "absolute" forms (Happy was Happy, Sad was Sad, etc), Noel's were split and fragmented. She could technically meet twenty different versions of the same emotions, each representing a small part of Noel's happiness, for example.

What she had run into was part of his love for her. But it wasn't a good part. Coloured an unpleasant yellowish-white, Raven had quickly dubbed him Doormat. He had nearly kissed her feet when she had approached him and had followed her, chattering away inanely about how great she was. Raven wasn't surprised this part of Noel existed: with the kind of father he had, part of him surely craved affection. But it wasn't pleasant looking at an absolute manifestation of that craving.

"You know what I like here! The colouring!" Doormat said as he continued nipping at Raven's heels. They were walking through what looked like a fancy office.

"Myself, I like the furniture." Raven said. She really didn't, but she needed to demonstrate something.

"You're right! The furniture is the best part!" Doormat said.

"But, I thought you just said the colouring was." Raven replied.

"It is! No it isn't! LOVE ME! JUSTIFY MY EXISTENCE!" Doormat wailed, throwing himself at Raven's feet. Raven sweatdropped.

"You want me to do something for you?"

"Yes! ANYTHING!"

"Ok. Please be a very small part of Noel's feelings for me."

"Gotcha! I'll be as small as an atom! Hardly there at all! You will love me, right?" Doormat asked.

Raven ran for it. She wasn't scared, she just wanted away from this aspect of Noel.

"COME BACK! LOVE MEEEEEEEE!"

Raven dove through the first door she found.

"HI-YAH!" the green Raven said, as she smashed a stone statue apart with a powerful jump kick. "WHOO-HOO! I AM THE BEST!"

Noel blinked. Was this Raven's Bravery or Confidence? Maybe both? He had already met her Timid side: she had been so scared and weak-looking that Noel had felt an overwhelming desire to protect it. Though her constant apologies for all the pain she had caused him got annoying. But his heart had truly ached when she said that he would never like her after all the things he would see. His declaration that he would always like her seemed to be genuine though, as it had made her feel a little better. Or maybe that was just him.

He passed by Brave, who was too busy kicking stuff apart, and pulled himself up on a cliff.

"NOEL!"

And then a pink Raven was hugging him. Noel started.

"Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou…!" Pink Raven said.

"Uh…you're welcome…for what?"

"I can finally express myself fully! You took away the chains that always bound me! You gave me back everything! You somehow made me happier then I already was!" Pink Raven said. Noel assumed this was Joy.

"Glad to help…"

"Thank you again!"

"Well then uh…why am I here?"

"My, uh…greater self is a bit scared. She's never felt this way before, and she's not sure how to deal with it…so she wants you to see her, all of her, and decide if this is the right thing…"

"But I know it's the right thing! I don't need to see this!"

"It's good to see it anyway. There's so many aspects of myself that you should know exist…especially considering what's happening." Joy said.

"What's…happening?"

"Noel, we have been kept under tight control for a long time. Indeed, some of your friends have seen what happens when one of us gets out of control. But with Trigon gone for now, we are finally free. But that also means that some of us have to, how shall we say, be higher on the totem pole then others."

Noel blinked, and then Joy pointed. Noel looked over the cliff and his jaw dropped.

"I assume you are Happy." Raven said, looking at the Savior in Pink.

"Life is great! I get to save people, hang around with superheroes, be known to the general public, and if I show up in costume, I get 10% off Taco Bell!" Savior's Joy said, dancing around happily.

"But what about…the blood and stuff…" Raven said.

"Oh, you want him for those things." Savior's Joy said, pointing to a Savior in dull grey.

"Life is so pointless. The people we save are so stupid and worthless. I can barely tolerate the public. Most of the time I just despise them." Grey Savior said. Raven assumed he was either Grim or Pessimistic.

"They're not all that bad…"

"YES THEY ARE. You were there. You saw what they do. Idiotic, worthless sheep, all of them. Should just leave them to the slaughter."

Raven frowned.

"Hey, keep in mind that's all he CAN do. I can list the many many good things that I love doing as a superhero and as a man!" Joy said.

"I'd love to hear them, but not now. I have to…find something…"

"I know just what you mean! Come this way!"

"Your love will end in pain and tragedy. That's all love is good for!" Grim called after them.

Raven, much to her surprise, flipped him the bird in response.

Two armies of Ravens had appeared out of the proverbial nowhere. Indeed, Noel could see Brave on the front lines of one side and Timid hanging around near the back of the other. Two Ravens were at the front: one a bright, flaring red, and the other a more subdued red.

"That's Id and Superego leading the way to decide which side gets control of Raven." Joy said.

"Freud was RIGHT?" Noel expostulated.

"You whatted?" Joy said.

"Say a sentence in confused realization…what a minute, what am I talking about?" Noel said. "Look, is this a good thing?"

"Not really something you can define as that. We can't kill each other, this will just decide which side gets more influence over Raven."

"Which side are you on?"

"I'll side with the winner. In fact I was thinking of changing my name to Opportunist." Joy said.

The armies charged at each other.

"I think you still want some answers, Noel. The best bet is to look in the deepest side of Raven's mind. You may find what you want there…but then again, you may not like what you find." Joy said.

A door suddenly appeared behind Noel and opened. With a laugh, Joy pushed him into it.

"Have a nice flight!"

Noel fell. He wasn't afraid. In fact his thoughts were more consumed with another question.

_I wonder what Raven's doing…I think she really wouldn't cotton to the idea of myself seeing her sexual desires fighting for supremacy…_

Raven had other things to think about. If she had to be embarrassed, so did Noel, because she had run into HIS manifestations.

"Hello there. I know you!" Id Savior said. His red was much like Id Raven's. "Superego and I have made a LOTTA dreams about you. My favorite was the one where I was the teacher and you were the naughty schoolgirl."

Raven blushed deeply. She had thought too much of the purer aspects of love: she had forgotten the biological aspects. It wasn't surprising that Noel was having fantasies about her, especially in his unconscious mind.

"That was great fun. Wasn't it, Superego?" Id said, snickering.

"LIES! LIES AND SLANDER!" Superego yelled. Raven felt a bit better: at least Noel's hormones seemed to be tempered.

"No it's not! It's what I want! Life is about having fun, and I'm SURE we can have some REAL fun now together, eh baby?" Id said, waggling his eyebrows at Raven in a lecherous way.

Raven would have retorted, except someone beat her to it, as Superego roared and grew to ten feet tall, stomping on Id.

"THINKING ONLY OF PLEASURE LEADS YOU DOWN THE ROAD JACK TOOK! I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!" Superego bellowed. Raven sweatdropped again. Maybe Noel's feelings were tempered a bit TOO much. Then again, maybe that was good: she was unsure of how she wanted this relationship to go.

"Ow…ok…I can sense what you want though Raven…besides me that is…" Id snickered under Superego's boot. Superego stomped on him again. Id groaned.

"My cruder side speaks the truth. You wish to know the true depth of Noel's feelings. Well, the answers you seek are behind that door." Superego said, indicating a door that had appeared in the wall. "But beware, there are things behind there you may not want to see."

"Then that's exactly where I have to go." Raven said, walking to the door. That was the whole point of this exercise: she needed to see Noel's deepest darkest emotions. She needed to know if their love could work…and whether it did or didn't, what Noel might become.

Noel landed on his feet, finding himself back in the floating realm of rocks and black space. And a Raven nearby him.

She wore robes of both pink and red, and she was sitting on the ground, staring off into space. As Noel walked up to her, she noticed her robes were dull, as if they had been washed a few hundred times, and her face was sad.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I…am not sure what I am." The Raven said.

"Are you Love?"

"Is that what I am? I suppose…yes, it does sound right…but still…I do not know what am I." Love said. Noel blinked. A manifestation of Love that didn't know what it was: yeah, that sounded like Raven.

"Hey, look at me." Noel said, kneeling down. "What do you feel when you see me?"

Love looked at him, and after staring for a few seconds, she smiled a bit, and her colours brightened slightly.

"You are Noel. You…let me exist. In a way I never could…but…" Love said.

"What?"

"I do not know how to be…myself…I am afraid…"

"Hey…just do what you feel is right. That's all I ask." Noel said.

"But…I…"

"You what?"

"I could never exist before because of…"

"Trigon? He's gone. And if he comes back, I'll deal with him again."

"Trigon is just an aspect…but I…may not be able to be anything…because…" Love said, and then a scream filled the air. Noel started, but Love just looked up as her colour faded again.

"I fear that if I let myself be…what I think I can be…I will let her be free as well…"

A new Raven appeared then, falling down from the ceiling. This Raven wore a blood-red cloak, and she had four eyes. That was enough of an indication: Noel knew he was looking at Raven's Rage.

"DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the Rage cursed. "I WAS IN CONTROL! I HAD FREE REIGN! AND YOU TOOK IT ALL AWAY! TOOK AWAY MY POWER! TOOK AWAY MY CONTROL! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!" Rage screamed, black power crackling on her. Love whimpered.

"I will never let you have what you want! I will destroy you FIRST!" Rage screamed, and then her body expanded outward and exploded as it manifested itself as Trigon again. Noel stared, his eyes strangely blank.

"You think you can have love? Raven, I, am not meant to love. Rage will always be her dominant emotion. By the will of her father, and by my will, I DENY YOU!!!!! YOU HAVE NO PLACE HERE!!!!!!!!" Trigon-Rage said, and attacked.

Statues.

Endless lines of white statues.

Well, actually, busts. They were stone carvings of a person's head and some of their upper profile, and then went on and on.

Some, Raven recognized. One in twenty was clearly Jack Djinn, and occasionally Raven found one of one of their other foes. The rest were all of a man she didn't know…yet he seemed oddly familiar. She walked on, dreading that she may find a bust with her profile.

She didn't. Instead she found him.

Him was a Savior coloured a light black, who was destroying every bust he could get his hands on with his Shimmer and bare hands. Raven blinked as he tore more of the statues apart, heading towards her.

He stopped when he saw her, and then he snorted and continued.

"You won't make a damn bit of difference." He said as he passed by. Raven blinked, turning around to watch as he kept on smashing busts, and then turning back.

She took a few more steps before she saw the new one. He had literally appeared from nowhere, and was wearing reds and pinks. She knew this was Noel's Love, but…what was he doing here in the "part of him she may not want to know"?

Love looked at Raven, and his face lit up.

"Raven…" he said. "So, you finally dare to look at me…it makes me feel good…" Love said, those his tone wasn't one of complete conviction.

"It won't last." Said a new voice behind Raven. Raven spun. Another Savior, also wearing black, a much darker shade then the previous one. "It never does. You're fragile and fleeting. Only I am eternal."

"Who's that?" Raven asked Love.

"That's Hatred." Love replied. Raven shivered.

"Why are you here?"

"This is where I belong. Myself and Resentment." Hatred said, as he smashed some statues. Resentment was working his way back up, and Raven noticed he was skipping a few statues as he went on his wrecking spree. Hatred had no such compunctions: he smashed everything he saw.

"But why…are you…" Raven said, looking back at Love. Love lifted his hands, and for the first time Raven saw the tethers. They flowed from his wrists, down to the ground…and into Hatred and Resentment. Raven looked back and forth between the three, and her eyes widened in horror.

"No…you don't…"

"Hate you? Resent you? Well, just a little…but that is a part of all love. We humans are flawed by nature: perfect love is beyond us. But my feelings for you greatly outnumber those against you…"

There was a rumbling behind Raven.

"But you see, all feelings must be taught, and my feelings for you…they are bound by resentment and hatred. Not because of you. Because of my life. And I fear…that what I was taught may destroy me…and you…and I don't want to do that…but I fear it's inevitable…"

"No. No. I was wrong Noel. But…I know now. I'll let you love me…because I love you." Raven said.

"You do…and it gives me happiness…but it doesn't change who I am. I am Love, bound by my life. My nature may yet be overcome by my nurture…and I fear that in the end, I will not be the dominant side…he will…"

"I will."

The new voice behind her was followed by Hatred and Resentment hissing like animals, and she turned to see. In the corner of her eye, she noticed that the statues Resentment had not touched were the ones of their enemies. All he had destroyed were those of the strangely familiar man. Now she looked at the third Savior in black, this black as deep as pitch, as midnight itself. Indeed, his hair was also different, sweeping more outward then up. Hell, even his pose was different from the other Saviors, making him seem more like Jack then Noel. The cocky arrogance in the new Savior's eyes was only matched by a cold indifferent gaze.

"I am what Noel Collins is meant to be. I am the legacy of Maxwell Collins." The new Savior said.

Raven looked back at Love, looking sad and defeated, and at Resentment and Hatred, who both looked upon the new Savior as if he was their worst enemy, and suddenly she knew what she was looking at.

"Cruelty." She said.

"Well, so you have some brains. Not that it matters, or changes anything." Cruelty said.

"I'LL KILL YOU…!" Resentment screamed, leaping at Cruelty. With a bored sigh, Cruelty whacked Resentment aside like he was made of paper.

"I don't know why he bothers. You can fight against me as much as you like, I will eventually win out. It is inevitable. I am what Noel Collins should be, if not for that bitch whore of a mother."

"YOU BASTARD!" Hatred yelled, trying his attack. He failed just as badly as Resentment.

"They're persistent, I'll give them that. They've been fighting against me since I came into being. But they can't fight forever. I'll win eventually." Cruelty said.

"This is why I'm down here, Raven." Love said. "I am in the deepest parts of myself…but so is he….my love for you, my essence…it is tainted by how I feel towards him and what he represents. It may always be that way, and I fear that one day it will be like he said…and for all the passion and fury I feel for you I fear he may be able to rot it away…"

"WILL rot it away. You stupid little delusion. You think you were put on this Earth to be happy? No. You were put on this earth to build an empire, and crush anyone who got in your way. THAT is your destiny, not in arm with this little bitch."

"Noel despises his father. He will never become like him. Like YOU." Raven said.

"You think that? Well, perhaps I must have been seeing things when I arranged it so that my greater self would forcibly remove the hands of Jack Djinn via a subway train. You think a kind person could do that? The only reason that happened is because I DO EXIST, and I WILL be him."

"No…" Raven said, not knowing what Noel had done to Jack. She looked back at Love, hoping to find some answers, but Love had shied away, cowering from Cruelty's harsh words.

"You think you can change him? Whore, he is BEYOND change. You learn all you can when you are young, and I was taught well. Very very well. True, the whore mother undid some of my work, but my influence was as certain as the sun rising and setting. I AM Maxwell Collins's son, and I will become what he meant for this world."

"You're the delusion." Raven said.

"YOU THINK SO!??!?!?!?"

Cruelty suddenly bulged outward and then exploded up into a new figure, the one on the busts. And Raven finally recognized him. She hadn't seen Noel much out of Savior form, but she remembered what he looked like. Adding twenty-five years, silver hair, and a beard made the man in front of her: Maxwell Collins, Noel's father.

"You don't realize how much you yourself have contributed to my power. Your own cruelty in refusing Noel when you had feelings for him. Give him all the logic you want, with your father and your emotions, it doesn't matter. We humans are not ruled by logic, we are ruled by emotion, and in this body and soul, I am destined to be king!"

"I won't let you." Raven snapped.

"What are you going to do, attack me? I am a part of the man you profess to love. You may as well turn around and attack that cowering piece of shit behind you. Your LIFE, as a so called "superhero", gives me power. Your exposure to the so called "supervillians", not to mention the human scum you stop, just makes me stronger. We become what we are exposed to, one way or another. In the folds of Maxwell Collins, or as a member of the Titans, my destiny is assured. I AM Noel Collins, I am the king, and YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN MY KINGDOM!" Maxwell-Cruelty bellowed, as it drew back its fist.

In the shadows of Raven's room, the mirror emerged, floating above the ground. It stopped, and then the mirror seemed to split as twin images appeared on it, one side Noel looking at Raven's Rage, and the other side Raven looking at Noel's Cruelty, each in the forms that resulted in the manifestation of each: the respective fathers. And it seemed the sins of the fathers would truly be visited upon the sons and daughters.

How fitting the final scenes be played out on a mirror, for they both truly mirrored each other: both Noel and Raven standing in front of their Love, as the powerful forces inside their minds, their dark sides vying for supremacy,  set out to destroy them, as both Trigon-Rage and Maxwell-Cruelty swung massive fists at the couple.

Neither moved.

Neither attacked.

But both spoke, and in a weird twist of fate, their words echoed the other.

"You may have power here…" Noel/Raven said as the fists swung at them. In their eyes the same fire burned.

"BUT YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!"

The fists connected, and then shattered like glass, as both Trigon-Rage and Maxwell-Cruelty recoiled, roaring in pain.

"No! What did you do! I am Raven/Noel!" the emotions bellowed.

"Maybe you are a part of him/her. Maybe more so then they realize. But you have no power over me, and as long as I draw breath, YOU WILL HAVE NO POWER OVER HIM/HER!"

The emotions screamed, and then their giant forms shattered, falling apart like cheap crystal.

"Maybe Raven will forever be tainted by Trigon's evil. Maybe my relationship with her is doomed. But I love her, and I always will, and no matter what happens between us, I will make sure you never overwhelm her again. This is my promise. No, this is my CURSE!" Noel snapped at Rage, who was on one knee. Rage looked at Noel and wailed her anger (or perhaps more accurately, herself) and then she sank back into the ground, rejoining the rest of Raven, her last chance at dominance foiled.

"Maybe Noel is the son of a cruel and merciless excuse for a human being, and maybe those traits are his by learning and perhaps even genetics. But he did not just learn from you. He learned from his mother, a kind and decent woman you couldn't destroy no matter what you did, and he learned from us, and I'll make sure he learns from me. And everything he learned from you will be put to good use, whether our relationship works out or not. This is my promise. This is my vow. NOW BEGONE BACK INTO THE DARKNESS THAT SPAWNED YOU!" Raven yelled.

"This isn't over! I will not…be…NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Cruelty wailed as he was pulled back into the shadows behind him.

And like that, the emotions were gone.

Noel turned back to the sitting Raven-Love as she got up, and Raven turned back as Love-Noel put his hands down. The two manifestations looked at their reasons for being.

"Thank you." They both said.

The colours on their clothes suddenly exploded into vibrant life, and the beyond, throwing off magnificent rainbows of light. The each offered their hands, and Noel and Raven took them.

"Whatever may happen…" the Loves said, as light filled the visions of both Titans.

"Know this. You let me…be me…"

The mirror glowed brightly, and then light exploded from it, filling the room. When it faded, Noel and Raven were back, standing before it, each holding each other's hands. The mirror finally lost its flight and fell to the floor, its mission done.

For a moment the two just stood there before they realized they were back in reality, and then they looked at each other.

"So…did you find out what you needed to know?" Noel said.

"I think I already knew it." Raven replied, and leaned up, bringing her lips to Noel's. He sighed slightly, taking her face gently between his hands and bringing her up to him. The kiss was calm, quiet, and peaceful.

For the moment, as the passion roared back through Raven, repressed for so long but no longer, and she deepened the kiss, not knowing what she was doing or where this was going but not caring for anyone or anything except Noel.

Noel returned her passion, as the woman he had admired and loved from afar for months finally opened up for him. Without really being aware of it, he scooped her up and carried her over to her bed, laying her down, not breaking her kiss. It wasn't until he had started taking his jacket off that he realized what he was doing, and broke the kiss.

"How far…" Noel got out before Raven leaned over and pressed her lips back to his, pushing him back and laying down on top of him. Noel was swept back up for little longer before his damn sense of responsibility came knocking again, as he broke the kiss again.

"Any time you want me to stop, say so."

"Don't stop." Raven gasped, and renewed their kiss. The two rolled over, as Raven surprised Noel by slipping the jacket off his shoulders. The sense of responsibility started speaking up again, but a whole bunch of other emotions yelled at it and it went away.

Despite the fury of their kiss, Noel's hands still had enough sense to reach up, unhooking Raven's cloak and shrugging it off to the floor. The two rolled over again to help get it off, and then rose up to a sitting position, not breaking the kiss.

Noel found the small clasps at Raven's wrists and undid them, and then reached behind her and start pulling down the zipper on the back of her costume. Raven sighed and reached down to pull Noel's shirt off of him, marveling at how his bare chest felt beneath her hands. Breaking the kiss momentarily, Noel gently took the material of Raven's costume and began pulling it down, slipping it down off her shoulder and arms. He nuzzled at her neck, and she sighed at the light touch. He looked back up into her eyes, once again seeing if she was changing her mind.

She answered him once more with a kiss, and he embraced her as her mouth opened up like a flower to him, She truly did taste sweet. He reached down and unclasped her bra. It fell in her lap.

Raven sucked in air through her teeth as Noel touched her in a way she had never been touched before, and she let out a little gasp, closing her eyes in bliss as he nuzzled at her neck again, feeling the warmth and gentleness of his hands on her as he sent shockwaves through her body. Could it get any better then this? She was sure it could, with Noel, as she opened her eyes…

And screamed.

Noel recoiled at the sudden explosion of noise. This wasn't a scream of pleasure, they hadn't got that far yet, and it wasn't fear either. It was more surprise and shock, and he wondered if the Titans had come back and caught them. But…

"Well well, looks like I was accurate in the end."

And then Noel's body tensed up with the same surprise and shock that Raven had expressed verbally. _No…_

(Writer's Note: Sorry, I wanted to say earlier that this wasn't a lemon scene, as lemons are not allowed by FF.Net anymore, but I didn't want to say anything before to indicate this scene was just lime because I didn't want to interrupt the flow or spoil the surprise. But it ends here, FF.Net, no lemon so DON'T BAN THIS FIC PLEASE).

Noel turned around, his shock fading into anger as the Lord of the Night strode out of the shadows, looking at the couple.

"Oh I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"


	29. Justice: Revenge

Chapter 29: Revenge

For a moment, Noel wondered if he was dreaming. 

It might make sense. He'd dozed off on the roof and dreamed the whole incident with Raven's mirror and Raven, and now the Lord had returned. Hell, maybe in the new minute he would turn into a gummy worm or something just as crazy…

But what clinched it as real was the Lord's face. He wasn't wearing the mask he had been wearing beforehand, and his hideously scarred face was there for all to see. And considering the fact when Noel had actually seen that face, he had been a bit distracted. It didn't strike him as a memory his dream would drag up. He would most likely remember the masked face of the Lord, the face that actually let him look human.

But no, it was the scarred Lord, sword in hand, calmly walking up to the foot of the bed and placing one of his feet on it, leaning on it as he looked at the two.

"I killed you." Noel said. It was all he could think of.

"Ah, wrong. You TRIED. You failed. But you tried. And a fair try too." The Lord said.

"But…all that blood! It was everywhere! You should have bled to death! You…!"

"Oh, you mean this blood?" the Lord said, raising his mechanical arm. There was a slight whirring, and then blood began flowing from the wrist, splattering on the floor. It went on and on as the two Titans stared in horror at it.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't be testing the blood you found. Pig's blood. That water tower hurt, believe me, but I survived it. A little blood of my own and a lot out of my arm, and I kept you from chasing after me, which, considering the state I was in, would have been bad for me. Always have a backup plan for everything, dear boy. Even losing."

"What do you want?" Raven said. The Lord glanced at her, her arms crossed over her chest to cover her bare breasts. There was no sexual desire in the glance though. The Lord was beyond such things.

"Well well, after all the heartbreak and denial, I turned out to be right. Here you two are, rutting like animals. Congratulations, I suppose." The Lord said, and turned back to Noel, who had tensed up, ready for the slightest indication of an attack.

"Relax child. If I wanted to kill you outright I would have stabbed you both in the back while you were, how shall I say, occupied. But that would be dishonorable for a pair that actually managed to best me in combat. Considering the devotion I have to the future that this world needs, that is quite an accomplishment indeed…." The Lord said. He stepped back off the bed, and then looked at the two again, his eyes darkening.

"But you interrupted my quest. Your delusions have allowed this world to get even sicker as I regrouped. I can forgive your beating me, but I can and WILL not forgive what you have allowed this world to suffer in your action. So this is what I want. I will go to the top of the Tower. You will meet me there. And we will settle this. So get dressed, and enjoy this moment together, because it will be the first and last you ever have."

The Lord stepped backwards into the darkness, and by the time Noel got over to him he was gone, vanished into thin air.

Noel glanced back over to Raven, who had pulled her shirt back on and zipped it up. In the back of his head, he mourned the lost moment, but only a little. There would be others, and the Lord took precedence over them. If he was allowed to run free, who knew how many people could die?

His shirt was suddenly floating in front of him, encased in black energy. He looked at Raven, and she smiled slightly. He smiled back and took the shirt, putting it on. He grabbed the jacket with his Shimmer, and picked up Raven's cloak and offered it to her at the same time, but she shook her head as she floated over to her closet.

"I have something special I had made that I haven't had a chance to use. Until now." Raven said, pulling a new cloak out of the closet. It looked pretty much the same like her old one, but Noel was sure she had her reasons.

"I'll be right back. Stay here." Raven said as she vanished into the shadows. Noel blinked.

He did a few tasks while he waited, stretching and preparing for the fight, among others. Raven returned four minutes later, and motioned for Noel to come over to her. He did, wrapping an arm around her, knowing what she was going to do. On an impulse, he gave her a quick peck on the lips, a kiss she returned before she pulled her hood up and activated her power again, sending both herself and her new love through the darkness to take on its supposed master.

* * *

The Lord was facing away from Raven and Savior when they appeared on the roof, but he turned around just as they were finished teleporting. He cocked his head, looking at the two. He had put his katana back into the sheath on his back.

"My my, déjà vu. The more things change." The Lord said. Indeed, it was very similar to their last fight: alone on a roof (though no rain this time).

"I can see you haven't changed. Still as insane as ever."

"And you're still applying such ludicrous notions as sanity to me to try and disguise the fact that part of you is terrified I might be right." The Lord replied. "Remember children, I can read you like a book. I know things about you that YOU'RE not even aware of. Parts of what I said to you…you think I may be right. But you deny it, because to accept reality as it is would be to shatter your own personal version of reality, and you humans rarely survive such things."

"I think you are the one who can't handle the truth." Savior snapped.

"And I think you are mistaking me as being one of you. A flawed, unpractical human. I am not. And you will not defeat me this time. Lightning never strikes the same place twice." The Lord said.

"You're not a force of nature." Raven said.

The Lord chuckled.

"True." He said. "Not YET."

And he dashed at the two, showing incredible speed as he covered the twenty feet between them in less then two seconds, as his mechanical arm whirled and snapped a four foot blade out of his wrist, a blade he slashed at Raven. Raven recoiled, and the Shimmer flew out, grabbing at the Lord, trying to keep him away from Raven. The Lord smirked.

"Disgustingly predictable." The Lord said, and slashed the Shimmer. Savior collapsed with a scream. "Stupid tactical move, child. You have clearly learned nothing."

"Oh really?" Raven said, as she reached into her pocket. As the Lord turned around, she threw something into the air.

Sewing needles, dozens of them. Needles she seized with her power and hurled into the Lord's face. He recoiled with a yell, his attempt to block mostly foiled by the small size of the projectiles.

"I learned that when your battlefield doesn't present you with good weaponry, bring your own." Raven said.

The Lord staggered back, and Savior kicked him in the back. The Lord spun, pulling needles out of his face as he simultaneously slashed at Savior with his arm blade. Savior ducked under the slash, flipped over the follow-up, and punched the Lord in the face, driving some of the needles he had missed removing in deeper. The Lord yelled, clutching at his heavily scarred visage, and Savior rammed the Shimmer into his gut and then across his face, sending him flying across the roof.

The Lord flipped up, pulling out the remaining needles a second before Savior attacked him again, punching. The Lord blocked the blows but Savior didn't let up, even as Raven disappeared into the shadows.

The Lord's guard was finally cracked as Savior got a punch in. The Lord recoiled, as Raven appeared out of the shadows behind him, her hand glowing with black energy as…

The Lord fell, sweeping his leg out and tripping Savior, and then spinning around and roundhousing Raven across the face, throwing her backwards. Savior flipped back up just to walk into the Lord's follow up back roundhouse heel kick, knocking him down again. He rolled with the Shimmer as the Lord altered his arm, forming it into his crossbow blaster. He aimed and fired, and Savior quickly threw up a shield, letting out a growling half snarl half scream as the arrows cut into parts of the shield and caused him pain.

The Lord smirked and reloaded, but before he could fire again a telepathic bolt slammed into his back, and at the same time Savior thrust his shield forward on Shimmer-springs, crushing the Lord between twin blasts of force. The Lord stumbled out, a bit dazed, and Savior struck, grabbing for his mechanical arm and crushing it…

Until the katana slashed down, cutting through the Shimmer. Savior screamed again, falling away. The Lord pulled the cut strand off his arm and looked at distaste at the now sparking, damaged limb.

"Well, back to basics." He said, as he pressed a button. Several parts of the arm fell off, leaving a smoother mechanical limb. It looked a bit odd, being somewhat smaller then his normal arm, but it was clear it worked perfectly as claws sprang from it and slashed at Raven as she flew in behind the Lord. A black shield of energy appeared over Raven, but several follow up slashes shattered it, driving her back. Raven grabbed one end of her cloak and held it up as the Lord approached.

"Oh, what you got in there, a bunny?"

"No." Raven said, as a dozen blades flew out of an inner pocket. "Knives."

And Raven threw the blades at the Lord, as the Lord brought his sword and claws out and went into a blocking frenzy. He wasn't quite fast enough though, as one knife ripped open his arm at the shoulder and another impaled itself into his right thigh. He staggered back, and then reached down and pulled the knife out of his leg in more annoyance then pain.

The pain came immediately afterward, as Shimmer loops flew over him, pinning his arms to the side. The Lord couldn't slash his way free as Savior lifted the Lord up and swung him over his head, slamming him into the ground before Savior spun and threw the Lord across the Tower. He hit the ground and bounced violently, nearly falling off the edge.

"You ok?" Raven said as she floated over to Savior.

"I'll live. Nice cloak. I see why you picked it. Pockets."

"To hold things. You noticed. Let's finish him off." Raven said.

The Lord flipped to his feet as Savior reached him, leaping at him in a charge. He ducked and Savior flew over him, but no sooner did he get up then Raven swooped down and planted her foot in his face. He staggered back and Savior swung on the makeshift ring bar/platform he had formed in a second via the Shimmer and rammed both of his feet into the Lord's back. He rolled with the blow and came up slashing, Raven blocking his katana strikes with temporary black energy shields. The Shimmer lanced at the Lord, and he flipped away, slashing at the strand. But it recoiled away from him, as Raven held out her cloak. Small metal rings flew from the pockets she had in them.

"Borrowed these from Robin's room." She said, and hurled all the tiny metal projectiles at the Lord, barraging him with sharp, hard impacts, the last three catching him square in the face and knocking him on his back.

Raven landed near Savior, who looked at her and then held out his hands. Twin Shimmer strands emerged and formed into swords. Raven looked at them and understood.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she said, and the Shimmer was encased in her black energy. Savior ran forward as the Lord got up. He saw him coming and smirked, and snapped out his claws and waved them in a "come hither" motion.

Savior swung his blades, and the Lord blocked them and spun, sweeping Savior's legs out from under him. But his follow-up stabbing attempt failed as Shimmer strands shot out of Savior's side and spun him around in the air, allowing him to punch the Lord across the face. The Lord staggered, and then slashed at Savior with his claws. Savior dodged aside and slashed his swords across the Lord's back, drawing a yell. The Lord spun, slashing again, but Savior blocked the blow with one of his blades. The Lord tried to claw Savior then, but Savior blocked it with his other blade, and then, shoving the weapons aside, opened his mouth and fired a Shimmer strand out of it, smacking the Lord in the face. The Lord staggered back, and Savior dispersed the Shimmer blades and reached out, grabbing the Lord with strands of the white energy. More Shimmer strands shot out into the ground, and then Savior balanced on them and flipped upward, slamming his heels across the Lord's face and throwing him into the air. Savior spun around as the strands recoiled and then they threw him up into the air after the Lord, and finally he lashed out with another strand, smacking the Lord downward again. As the Lord fell, Raven appeared out of the shadows behind him and let loose with twin telepathic bolts into his back, sending him flipping and bouncing across the T-Tower again.

The Lord slowly got up, blood dripping from his face, as Savior and Raven headed over to him. He smiled.

"Well well, nice work children. It appears your skills have greatly improved."

"You thought it was bad before?"

And then Robin landed next to the two. A second later Starfire dropped Cyborg down and flew down beside him, and Beast Boy swooped down as a hawk.

"Your night just got a whole lot worse." Robin said, cracking his knuckles. Before Raven and Savior had headed up to the roof, they had sent a distress signal. And it had been answered. The Lord, after all, hadn't said anything about that being bad.

"So this is the Lord of the Night. Man, you are SO toast buddy." Beast Boy said.

"We will not let you commit any more crimes!" Starfire added. The Lord looked at the Titans, and then he smirked.

"Well then, perhaps it's time then." The Lord said, and with a quick snap of his hand he threw a smoke bomb down on the ground. The Titans recoiled, thinking it may be a poison of some kind, but it quickly faded.

The Lord was no longer alone.

One his left was a female with short, little less then shoulder length black hair, a combat suit similar to the Lord's, and a black bandage tied around her face. Though her eyes were covered, she seemed to look right at the Titans.

Though the black haired female was probably in good shape, the redhead at The Lord's right definitely was, if only because she was wearing what looked like a tight one piece bathing suit and boots and nothing else. Her fiery red hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she looked at the Titans with clear disgust.

The last one was a thin, spindly pale man with short black hair that fell over his eyes. His skin was extremely pale, though little could be seen due to his combat outfit, also similar to the Lord's but with several different cosmetic touches.

The Titans stared at the newcomers with some surprise.

"What? You think I always have to stand alone? Hell no. My quest is what matters, above all. And if that means siding with others, then I'll damn sure side with others." The Lord said. Near the end of the fight, he had lost his katana, or at least that was what it seemed until it came sliding past the Titans, moving along the ground via some kind of magnetic pull. It had gotten close to the crouching man when his arm shot out with great speed and tossed the blade behind him, where the Lord caught it.

"We know you Titans, but you may not know us. So, from right to left, this is Sizzle, Shadowmaster, and Murdercrow. And you know me, I'm the Lord of the Night."

The Titans all assumed combat positions. The Lord chuckled again.

"Ready to fight already? You may not be so eager. This, as I mentioned to those two earlier, will most likely be the last act of your lives."

"We'll never led you harm an innocent again! We'll take you down!" Robin said.

"After tonight, you will no longer plague the world!" Savior added.

"Plague? My dear children, we are no plague. We are what the world needs. We are what the world deserves. We are Genocide." The Lord said, giving his own team a name.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled, and the Titans leapt to the offense. The amusement vanished from the face of the Lord, replaced only by a murderous sense of determination.

"Right then. Let's get SERIOUS."


	30. Justice: Genocide

Chapter 30: Genocide

Up in heaven, or wherever, whatever gods or forces of the way gangs of metahumans will pair off when two groups fight each other rolled a cosmic dice and sent the results down to the Titans and Genocide.

Ok, having read the previous sentence, I realize it makes absolutely no sense. So let's just say that when the Titans got close, Genocide split up and countered.

Savior and Raven headed for the Lord again, but Raven never made it. The man called Shadowmaster abruptly showed why his name applied as he leapt forward and dove into the shadow at his feet, vanishing into the darkness. Before Raven could blink, Shadowmaster appeared out of the shadows next to Raven and pounced on her, and as she yelled in surprise both vanished into the darkness again.

"RAVEN!" Savior yelled, and then he had to dodge as the Lord was on him, swinging his sword. He leapt backwards as the Lord followed. He swung the Shimmer at him, but the Lord dodged it, seemingly with ease, and sliced it with his claws. Savior screamed, and was starting to collapse when the Lord ran up to him and kicked him in the face. Savior flew several feet, as the Lord did a lazy twirl of his sword. Savior got up, his body shaking with pain.

"Care to continue this little game?" the Lord said.

"I'll show you how to play!" Savior snapped back, leaping at the Lord.

The Lord dodged aside from the lunge, grabbed Savior by his jacket, and drove his knee into Savior's waist, knocking the wind out of him as the Lord snaked his hand up and grabbed Savior's white hair, pulling him back.

"Like I said, a game. Let's play for real now. And keeping with that motif, Simon Says bleed." The Lord said, and smashed Savior backwards with a cracking jab.

"Dammit!" Robin said, as he watched this unfold. Well then, he'd better…

A sparking rod suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. Robin recoiled a bit. The sparking had come from Murdercrow, who was now holding what looked like a modified taser in her hand, a normal part to grip and a glowing part that crackled with electricity. She had swung it not AT Robin, but in front of Robin so that he would stop.

"If you want him, you go through me." Murdercrow said quietly.

"If you say so." Robin said, twirling his staff before suddenly snapping it out. It was a very good move, well executed so that the person didn't know they were being attacked until the last second, and by then it was too late to dodge.

Murdercrow dodged it. Which was pretty damn scary considering she was wearing a blindfold. Robin spun to avoid a counter…

Too late, as Murdercrow jammed her taser into his thigh. Electricity blasted through Robin's leg, simultaneously causing him great pain and messing up his own electrical signals, causing his muscles to seize up and cramp. Before he could react, his knee buckled, and Murdercrow swung out her leg and kicked him in the head, sending him flying.

"ROBIN!" Starfire cried, and then her eyes shone green as she began firing Starbolts at Murdercrow. Murdercrow dodged them with ease.

A shadowy portal appeared above the T-Tower, and Shadowmaster tumbled out of it. He landed on his feet as Raven appeared, her hands glowing.

"Azarath, Metrion…"

Shadowmaster snapped out his arms, crossing them as six small daggers appeared in both his hands, and then he hurled them at Raven with deadly accuracy. Raven gasped and tried to dodge, but one flew right into and THROUGH her shoulder and another slashed open her cheek. More angry then hurt, Raven growled in her throat and lifted up some rubble from the top of the T-Tower, flinging it at Shadowmaster. She missed by the proverbial mile, as Shadowmaster dove back into the shadows at his feet, teleporting away. Blast, why had she used up all her projectiles on the Lord?

"Well Beast Boy, looks like we get the hot one!" Cyborg said as he looked at Sizzle.

"Yeah, let's kick her most likely psycho butt." Beast Boy replied.

"Stupid boys. Don't be confusing your pistols with your privates. Neither are a weapon." Sizzle replied.

"That's not what you were saying last night!" Beast Boy quipped.

WRONG thing to say. Sizzle's eyes blazed, and she screamed in a rage so pure that it send shivers down Cyborg's spine.

And then Beast Boy burst into flame. And this wasn't a "I dropped my cigarette" fire, this was a "poured gasoline on oneself and light it fire". Beast Boy's scream echoed through Victor's ears.

Time almost seemed to slow down as Beast Boy thrashed, but in the back of Cyborg's head facts began popping out. If Beast Boy wasn't put out ASAP, the flames would kill him. If he didn't burn to death outright, the great amount of third-degree burns left in the wake of the fire would kill him just as badly. But he had nothing to extinguish the flames so quickly, unless he…

And then in a crazy move (abet the only one Victor had), Victor aimed his sonic cannon and fired, blasting Beast Boy back. He flew off the Tower and fell, screaming, into the water below.

"Oh god I hope I was quick enough." Cyborg said. Their outfits were designed to protect them, and Cyborg could only pray that Beast Boy's costume had been burned but not Gar himself. If not…

"YOU BITCH!" Cyborg roared, turning and firing his cannon at Sizzle. The blast took her in the chest, knocking him backwards and nearly throwing her off the Tower as well. Cyborg charged, preparing for any fire: his metal body could…

"Don't blame me for your kind's sins!" Sizzle hissed as she got up, and then she slammed her hand into the ground. Fire towers exploded…on three sides around Cyborg. The attack stopped Cyborg, the heat being even more intense then he had expected. Before he could react, the towers of flame surged forward and combined around Cyborg, exploding and consuming him in terrible heat.

The Lord dodged Savior's punch and retaliated with one of his own that made stars explode in Savior's vision. He sent out a hoard of lashing Shimmer strands to keep the Lord away from him, but so caught up was he in his pain that he didn't even realize the Lord had walked around him until he tapped him on the shoulder. Savior swung, lashing the Shimmer, but the Lord ducked under it and then balanced on his hands as he slammed his legs into Savior's gut, driving the wind out of him.

Murdercrow did a full split as Starfire flew in, dodging two more Starbolts and then spinning up, slamming her feet across Starfire's face. Starfire staggered back, and Murdercrow swung up and…

Her ears pricked, and then she snapped her head to the side as a Birdarang barely missed her. But she wasn't quick enough to dodge the other one fully, and it snicked the side of her head. The bandage was severed, falling off, as Murdercrow turned to look in the direction of the weapons.

Robin, who had managed to massage his leg muscle back until it worked again and then thrown the Birdarangs at Murdercrow, gaped as he saw Murdercrow's eyes.

They were almost completely white, milky and dull, the pupils and cornea so damaged they could barely be told apart from the rest of the eye. _Good God, she's blind._

Then again, Robin had halfway expected that. What he hadn't expected was for Starfire to fire a Starbolt at Murdercrow's back, and for Murdercrow to duck. The blast took him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him tumbling backwards.

"OH NO! ROBIN!" Starfire said in horror, but her attempt to go aid Robin was stopped when Murdercrow whirled and zapped her in the shoulder. She screamed and then hit Murdercrow with a point blank Starbolt, sending her flying backwards.

Shadowmaster's head turned, and then he suddenly whirled away from Raven, dodging the brick she had thrown at him out of sheer luck rather then an actual attempt to dodge it, and dove into the shadows. As Murdercrow fell off the edge of the Tower, Shadowmaster appeared, catching her and pulling her back from certain death.

"Thank you Shadowmaster." Murdercrow said. Shadowmaster nodded, and then Savior went flying past them, propelled by the Lord's attack.

"Enough. Let's finish this." He said as he walked past. Despite being nearly incapable of expression like normal human eyes, the blind eyes of Murdercrow could still be seen to "light up" at the sound of the Lord's voice. Also could be seen was the quick look of grave distaste on Shadowmaster's face, and then Murdercrow was running at Robin.

A piece of metal slammed against the side of Shadowmaster, and he staggered before he tumbled back into a shadow warp again. Raven saw this and warped herself. Shadowmaster appeared out of the ground several feet away, and then Raven appeared behind him, driving her foot into the back of his head.

Robin swung at Murdercrow with his staff, but she blocked it with her tasers and Robin yelled as an electrical shock carried up the staff and jolted his arms, making him drop the weapon. Murdercrow punched him across the face, and then Starfire flew in and kicked her in the head. Murdercrow went with the blow, cart wheeling away.

Sizzle had spent all this time pouring flame onto the place where Cyborg had last been, until he finally came charging out of it, his metal parts scorched and blackened and his face burned. He slammed his fists into Sizzle, driving her back with a cry, but she placed her hand against his face as she fell and detonated a huge burst of flame there, pushing him back as well. Switching to a tool that he hadn't use in a while, Cyborg activated his machine gun autocannon and blazed bullets at Sizzle. But a wall of flame appeared before her, the heat so intense the bullets vaporized before they reach her.

"Oh, think that's impressive? Block THESE!" Cyborg said, as twin sections of his chest snapped open and half a dozen mini missiles fired out.

The wall of flame dissipated as the missiles armed, and as they launched, Sizzle looked at Cyborg with a look that combined utter hate and yet pity as she snapped her fingers.

Cyborg only saw a brief flash of light as Sizzle ignited flames within his weapons, and then all the mini-missiles exploded in his face. He flew backwards and fell into the still being repaired hole Evil Raven had made in the roof of the T-Tower, falling several stories and crashing through one more before he came to rest, unconscious.

Raven stopped Shadowmaster's next flurry of thrown daggers in mid-air and then fired them right back at him. He disappeared into the shadows, but Raven was waiting for him and met him with a telepathic bolt as he reappeared. He flew across the Tower, but he recovered in mid-air and landed on his feet. He was about to resume his attack when he heard a cry. He glanced over.

Robin and Starfire finally seemed to be getting the best of Murdercrow. Shadowmaster glanced over to the Lord, but he was too busy beating up Savior to notice. The anger flicked across Shadowmaster's face again, and then he focused on Murdercrow, his face set in concentration.

Starfire was coming in for a punch when her vision began to distort. The clear image of Murdercrow began to darken and lose focus, as if shadows were springing up around her. She blinked, and then made a fateful decision as she continued, charging at where she thought Murdercrow was.

She was wrong.

Murdercrow dodged Starfire's thrown-off punch, and then, as Robin, who was getting up from a kick he had taken so Murdercrow would be open and vulnerable to Starfire's attack, watched, she twisted and jammed her taser into Starfire's chest. Starfire screamed and then collapsed, eyes wide open, not moving.

"No." Robin said.

Murdercrow abruptly moved as a stray Shimmer strand slashed out, nearly cutting her in half. A second later The Lord drove Savior back with a palm thrust that caused him to slam into a small structure on the T-Tower's roof that held supplies and fall to his knees.

Robin looked at Starfire, on the ground, her heart stopped from the taser. She would die if he didn't help her, but if he tried to help her, Murdercrow would get him, or maybe that guy Shadowmaster, or one of the group of sickos that the Lord had attacked with, all because of no real reason then some malfunctioning gear in his brain that suggested it would be a good idea…

And an intense anger suddenly washed over Robin, sweeping away rationality and logic, as his mind suddenly set on the only goal it could think of to solve all the problems: _GET THE LORD._

"DAMN YOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!" Robin screamed as he leapt at the Lord at top speed, staff swinging. The Lord looked at him, unconcerned, as the screaming Titan swung in and…

The Lord's hand shot out, grabbing the staff.

"Attacking in a furious rage. Irresistible, empowering…"

The Lord twisted the staff down.

"Not practical."

The last thing Robin knew before the Lord slammed his metal hand across Robin's head, knocking him out, was that he was right. He had acted foolishly, and had doomed Starfire…

Robin's guilt as unconsciousness claimed was unneeded in the end though. Even as he fell, Murdercrow stepped back to the technically dead Starfire, cocked her head, and then pressed the taser against her chest again. Starfire's body jolted, and then she sat up with a gasp.

Right into a cracking kick from Murdercrow. Her head snapped down, slamming into the ground and robbing her of her consciousness as well.

"But…what…?" a confused Savior said.

"Can't have you dying. I need you alive." The Lord said.

The possibilities of those two sentences washed over Savior, filling him with horror, and then he was up and attacking again. He walked right into a vicious uppercut from the Lord, which sent him flying across the roof again.

Shadowmaster and Raven exploded out of another black portal, and this time Shadowmaster got the better of it as he kicked Raven to the ground. Sizzle was walking lazily back to where the main battle was a shriek filled the air and Beast Boy flew up in the form of a griffon. Apparently the water had come in time after all, but the flames had still hurt Gar Logan and the pain had made him snap, as he commenced diving at Sizzle in a mad rage…

Shadowmaster focused.

Sizzle's clear image was swallowed by darkness, and Beast Boy, his mind reacting via animal instincts due to the pain Sizzle had called him, didn't do the smart thing and pull back, but instead did the animal thing and pressed the attack.

Stupid.

Beast Boy missed Sizzle completely, diving head first into the Tower. His heavy body bounced along the roof as the pain made him lose his concentration and revert to his human form, and then he stopped moving, groaned, and passed out.

"NO!" Raven said, drawing Shadowmaster's attention as he turned around, as she thrust up her hands. "YOU WILL NOT-AHHHHHHHH!" Raven screamed. Her arms dropped, and then she fell over, revealing Murdercrow behind her, her taser still smoking slightly from where she had jammed it into Raven's spine, a precise jolt that had temporarily overloaded Raven's systems and knocked her out.

His face a bloody mess, Savior, having missed all of this, was trying to get up. He barely saw Genocide walking over to him, could barely sense anything except the shadow darkening his vision, as the Lord reached down and picked him up via the hair.

"You lose." He said.

And then his fist swung down, and all Savior knew was blackness.

The Lord dropped Savior's body and looked at the rest of his team.

"Nice work. Gather them up and restrain them. I'll get what I need, and then the moment will finally be at hand." He said.

Murdercrow smiled as he walked past.

"At last, the master will become a god, and this world will finally be made a good and just place."

"At the cost of most of its population, but they brought it on themselves." Sizzle said as she dragged Raven over, carrying her by one foot. "Shadowmaster, make with your mojo and help us. I want to get this done so I can get what I deserve."

Shadowmaster nodded, but his eyes still showed distaste, as Murdercrow followed after the Lord like a puppy.

Well, he was better off then the Titans.

When this was done, the Titans would regret Genocide hadn't lived up to their team name and killed them.

In the course of this story, the Titans may believe they seen the greatest depths of human deviance, insanity, and evil…

The Titans were DEAD wrong.

  



	31. Justice: Monster

Chapter 31: Monster

Writer's Note: At the end of this chapter, you may be depressed, saddened, and even scared. To recover from these feelings, go and read BobCat's "The Epic of Gauntlet" and you'll feel much better, trust me.

_"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."_

Milton

_"There is no point in saying less then your predecessors have said."_

John Simon

Robin opened his eyes to find himself looking into the blank orbs of Murdercrow's eyes. He tried to recoil, only to find his arms were tied firmly above him and his feet were manacled to the ground. He couldn't move.

"Interesting thing about Murdercrow here…"A voice suddenly spoke, as the Lord stepped into his vision, his hideously scarred face calm and controlled. Robin twisted his head, looking away from the terribly damaged visage and at the same time looking around. His utility belt was gone, and the rest of the Titans were tied up in similar ways around him.

"Can you tell where her name comes from?"

"Why should I care? Let us go you nutcase!"

The Lord punched Robin in the gut, driving the air out of him.

"Be nice in front of the lady, child. Now would you like to guess?"

"Bite me!"

The Lord pulled the sword out of his back and jammed it through Robin's foot. Robin screamed.

"ROBIN!" Starfire said, struggling against her own restraints. But she could not get free, and her powers didn't work.

"Maybe THAT will teach you some manners." The Lord said, pulling the sword out and laying it on a nearby table. Robin realized they were in one of the storage rooms where they kept spare furniture and other things they might need (it was where Noel's guns had gone after the defeat of Aberration). The room was empty now save for the table and the special restraint systems the Lord had apparently prepared in advance.

"Robin! My powers don't work!" Starfire said.

"Neither do mine…" Savior groaned from another direction.

"Since you don't want to answer my question, I'll tell you. Murdercrow didn't exactly have the best life…hell, I'll just say it, everyone and everything savaged her. Same with all of us. But that is beside the point…you see Murdercrow was so miserable, she decided to try and use a black magic spell, a very POWERFUL black magic spell that she had no business using, to try and make things better. Well, it didn't work out so well…something kinda appeared in the form of a flock of black birds and pecked out her eyes. Well, not so much pecked them out but…well, something, who can tell with dark forces? Whatever happened, it cost her her eyesight, but in return for this sacrifice, Murdercrow here has superhuman senses and the ability to sense danger untouched by anyone else. In this universe anyway. Hence, her name. You can always call a group of things just "a group of things", but lots of things have "special" words to describe a group of them, most of which are "amusing" puns. A bawl of infants, a prey of lawyers, a crash of rhinoceroses…in any case, since her eyes were taken by black birds, she named herself after what took them. A murder of crows. Murdercrow."

"Oh how fascinating. What the hell do you want?" Robin snapped. He tried to get out of his bonds and failed.

"Don't bother. Mad Mod may have been a senile old coot, but he knew his restraints. He made sure those would hold you unlike his last ones when he took his revenge. At least that was his plan until I "convinced" him they would better suit MY plan." The Lord said.

"Well what do you WANT THEN?" Robin said. And he meant it: he wanted to know why the Lord hadn't just killed them outright.

"What do I want? I want a perfect world. I want a practical, well run society without all the disease and waste that this one is choking on. Always have, always will. And believe me, revenge is not practical…despite how easily I beat you this time. What, you thought you had me before, Savior? I was toying with you and your little lovebird there. You saw what happened when I took you seriously." The Lord said.

"Lord, could we please GET ON WITH IT?" Sizzle said.

"Now now, no rush Sizzle. In fact for being rude I think I'll talk some more." The Lord said. Sizzle rolled her eyes.

"Not the most polite lady, but hey, getting raped by your father, brothers, and about seven other men throughout your life tends to rob you of the charm." The Lord said. "You questioned my intentions, Robin? Let me tell you a story."

"There were these two children, and by great luck and some skill, they managed to get the best of me, hurt me fairly badly, though as Savior will tell you, not as badly as they thought. So I crawled away, licking my wounds, and while I was healing I put my quest on hold while I did some thinking, some reading…and then fate showed me the door. I won't bore you with the details, but I found something that will take my name and make it a reality. I will go from being just someone who has ascended beyond his human flaws to a true Lord of the Night."

"Are you sure of that or did you just dream it up?" Savior snapped. The Lord ignored them, his back to Robin. He appeared to be fiddling with his repaired mechanical arm.

"However, I have a vexing dilemma. In order to accomplish this task, I need to complete a ritual. Problem. This ritual was written so long ago that a good many of the things needed for it no longer exist. Ah, but fear not. After much research, I found that while I perhaps cannot complete the ritual as such, I can find the proper substitutes to complete it anyway. I have some of what I need, some of which was quite difficult to get…but the rest need to be improvised. Vis-a-vis, you." The Lord said, raising his arm. Robin's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw the cruel tool that the Lord had formed at the end of his arm.

"Now Robin…you have devoted so much time and effort to bring your human, non-enhanced body to peak condition and beyond…well, I need some of that muscle tissue you worked so hard to develop."

Robin thrashed, frantically trying to break out.

"Now now, if you struggle it will just hurt more…" The Lord said. Then he stopped, apparently giving it some thought. "Actually, it will hurt like hell no matter what you do." 

And then he jammed the device into Robin's leg.

Robin's screams rang through the room through the whole twenty seconds the Lord worked, Starfire echoing his cries as the Lord did his work, finally withdrawing the tool and leaving Robin slumped and trying not to pass out from the pain.

"Now you." The Lord said, walking over to Starfire. Starfire's eyes bugged out as well, and she did her best impression of Robin.

"Alien physiology. Fascinating…" The Lord said, as the tool shifted on his arm. "I need some of your skin."

Starfire screamed as the Lord took just that, carefully peeling off a section of skin from Starfire's torso. He left her weeping as he moved on to Cyborg.

"There's nothing I have you can use!" Cyborg cursed, trying to break out and smash the Lord's head in for what he had done.

"On the contrary. Your circuits have something I need. Specifically, gold. I'm sure you know that a lot of systems have a VERY small amount of gold in them, and while the amount is very small…all I need is a small amount. However…I will still have to do some surgery…" The Lord said, as his arm reformed into a buzzsaw. "Sizzle, if you would help me…"

Cyborg's torture lasted a lot longer then Robin and Starfire's, as the Lord methodically cut open his arms and chest, removing parts and melting them for their gold as he needed. If there was some comfort, Cyborg couldn't feel the pain the same way Robin and Starfire had, but he still felt a terrible sense of violation.

"And onward we go…ah Beast Boy. You have the ability to turn into any animal at all, right?"

"I'll never do anything for you! Nothing!" Beast Boy snarled. The stretchy ropes he was tied in had resisted all his escape attempts, and eventually he had stopped after Murdercrow had come over and started zapping him with her tasers.

"Yes. You will. Or I'll go back to your friends and start REALLY working on them." The Lord said, looking deep into Beast Boy's eyes. Beast Boy's anger faded somewhat under the intense, vicious gaze the Lord brought.

"I need the feathers of a bird. Specifically, the passenger pigeon. Thing is, your stupid greedy destructive species drove it to extinction nearly a century ago. So I guess you'll have to do. Here's a picture. Transform." The Lord said, holding up a picture. Beast Boy grit his teeth, and then did so.

He wished he hadn't, as Murdercrow immediately zapped him with the taser again, and then the Lord violently removed nearly thirty feathers, which was quite painful. Beast Boy became human again, his mind swimming from the pain, large patches of his skin and some hair missing due to the Lord having removed the feathers in his previous form.

"And you, the one who defeated me beforehand…" the Lord said, looking up at Savior. "Think you're clever?"

"I know I was right." Savior snapped. The Lord chuckled, and then the tool on his arm reformed once again into a cruel, sharp instrument.

"WRONG."

And then the Lord jammed the tool straight up Savior's nose. Raven screamed, but all Savior could do was a low groan as the Lord thrust the tool up higher. A loud cracking noise was heard, and then the Lord withdrew the tool.

"Brain tissue. Thank you child. Maybe in your next life you'll think twice before crossing the fate of the world. You certainly won't be doing any more thinking in this world."

"No…" Raven said, as the Lord left Savior, slumped over as blood and worse leaked from his nose. The Lord walked over to Raven.

"And you…wonder what I want?" the Lord said.

Raven spat on him.

The Lord returned the favor by punching her across the face. Raven's vision exploded in bright colours, and she went limp in her restraints. The Lord grabbed her by the chin and lifted her head up so she could look at him.

"Nothing. I have the blood of your father. And your allies have given me the rest of my substitutes. So why am I over here? Just to tell you…this is your fault. You shouldn't have stood against me, interrupted my quest."

"I thought…you said…revenge was not practical…" Raven whispered.

"Heh. I lied." The Lord said, and let Raven go.

"Well well, one of the ones who dared stand against me is now a vegetable…and by nature of their relationship, perhaps that is punishment enough for the other…on second thought, no."

The Lord went over to the table where he had stored all the things he had taken from the Titans in special containers.

"I will begin the ritual in five minutes. The stars and moon should be in place in eight minutes after that…and once it begins well…Murdercrow, Shadowmaster, come with me. Sizzle?"

"Yeah?"

"You seem particularly irritated at this time. I don't need the Titans any more. Kill them. Play with the males first if you like. I wouldn't recommend Savior thought. I don't think he can feel anything any more."

"My pleasure." Sizzle said. The Lord turned and left with his "artifacts", as Sizzle turned around and headed towards the Titans.

"Oh what fun this will be."

Robin's finally managed to bring his mind out of the swirl of pain when he saw Sizzle approaching him, her eyes filled with rage.

But two steps away from him, she stopped, as her eyes grew thoughtful.

"No. I have a captive audience, why waste it on the usual? Let's make this special…" Sizzle said, and she turned and left. Before she did though, she stopped and picked up the katana the Lord had left on the table. She gave it a once-over, shook her head, and put it back down. Then she left.

"Robin…" someone was saying. Robin, balancing on one leg to try and keep the other from sending surges of agony through his body, turned his head. His eyes widened when he saw the damage did to Cyborg.

"That nutjob messed us up bad…Savior may be brain dead. Raven and Starfire have passed out, and Gar is totally out of it as well. It's up to your Fearless…if you don't help us…we're all dead…" Cyborg said.

Robin blinked, and tried to focus his mind. His belt was gone, but he always had backups. He just had to reach the spare tool sewn into his glove…

And then he realized his gloves were off. The Lord had indeed though of everything. And soon, one of his allies, an insane man hater, would be coming back to play with them.

He had better think of something fast, or he had a feeling that the hell would just be beginning…

First, the Lord needed his own blood.

He cut his arm open, and then used a special funnel system on his other, mechanical, arm to carefully drip the blood onto the ground in the proper shapes. Then he went over the shapes with his hands to finish the symbols properly.

Second, Trigon's blood. There was a lot less of it, but the Lord's superhuman sense of observation allowed him to use all he had properly and effectively.

Once that was done, he started laying the artifacts out. Once properly placed, he would perform the ritual.

If it didn't work, he'd surely die, but he was certain it would work, and he would weigh the odds of failure after all the research and studying he had done to the gift the ritual would bring him.

The ritual itself was not specific: the beings that would perform it would add their own special touches in order to get a certain result (indeed, such a procedure was necessary: if they just asked for "power", they may very well get all the power in the universe. And nobody could hold that kind of power, even the Lord). The Lord had no idea how many times the ritual had actually worked, or what it had done (though he HAD heard a rumor, which had no real foundation but was interesting none the less, that this ritual had had SOMETHING to do with the formation of the Green Lantern Corps. Exactly WHAT something wasn't know, that was the nature of rumors after all, but it was interesting nonetheless, as mentioned), but he knew what he was going to use it for.

The power of the night itself.

Once it was completed, the Lord would go even beyond the higher state that his body of flesh and metal had become, and become one with the night, and all it represented. Every shadow would grant him power. Every darkness and blackness would be his to command. And considering how much of reality was tainted by darkness, from the infinite cold of space to the metaphorical darkness in the human heart and soul, his power would be considerable indeed. He would be a god.

And as a god, he would make a Utopia.

Some time ago, when a giant cosmic creature had actually devoured the Earth's sun (before it was restored by another being of great cosmic power), newspapers had, in the grateful aftermath, dubbed it "The Final Night". They had been wrong.

This was the Final Night. For all of human civilization. They had failed, and failed terribly, and it was time to make things right.

To make things practical.

Robin had no real idea how much time had passed. His pain and effort distorted all chronic senses: all he knew was that he had to get free before Sizzle got back. But he had run out of options, it seemed: the Lord had secured him well.

But, maybe there was one way left…

And then it seemed that way was lost to him as well, as Sizzle returned, carrying something.

Knives. All the knives from the kitchen, to be exact. She laid them down on a table and picked up the largest one.

"Stupid kids, letting your knives get dull. I had to sharpen most of them again. I don't like to be kept waiting…" Sizzle said. She glanced up. "Funny, I thought the Lord would be finished by now. Must be a long ritual. Wonder if I'll get to see any of it by the time I'm done with you."

Having selected her knife, Sizzle started over to Robin. Robin, finding new energy in desperation, began thrashing about trying to get free.

"That's right, squirm. It never works. It couldn't keep dear daddy off me. It couldn't keep any of the men off me…" Sizzle said, her eyes distant and lost in her own psychosis as she approached Robin. "You know, you men are so good at violations. There's no real way to make you feel how it is to be forced to do acts against your will…"

Sizzle stepped up to Robin.

"But I'll tell you anyway. It feels like a knife being jammed into you. And not just any knife. Blades eventually kill you and grant you peace from the horror, but what you do is like one that just cuts you over…and over…and over…well maybe I can't duplicate that…"

Sizzle seized Robin's mouth and pulled his jaw open.

"But I can try. Open wide."

The Lord knew she would be coming even before she arrived, as he set the final piece down.

"Murdercrow." He said.

"Master…" Murdercrow replied in her mousy tone. She may not have been able to see, but her other senses more then sufficed in helping her get around.

"I thought I told you to stand guard with Shadowmaster."

"Yes, my Lord. But before you ascend, I needed to tell you something…" Murdercrow said. The Lord didn't look at her, finishing up his preparations. Murdercrow clearly struggled with what she was trying to say, but in the end she managed to get it out.

"I love you."

The Lord stopped.

"I have ever since I heard your voice. I knew then…you were the one for me…" Murdercrow said. "I thought…maybe when the world is cleansed…we can…or maybe…"

"You love me." The Lord stated.

"Yes." Murdercrow replied. She could hear, and sense the Lord getting up and walking towards her.

"I don't care about what you look like…looks don't really matter much to me…but I know that even without seeing you that you're the one."

"Really…" The Lord said quietly. He seemed to be thinking.

"Yes." Murdercrow breathed.

"Murdercrow…why did you forget what I taught you?"

Murdercrow's face showed confusion.

"What?"

"Murdercrow, you may think you were sure of this, perhaps more so then anything in your life…but you are wrong. I do not love you. I never have."  
Murdercrow's eyes, once again, despite lacking the full ability to express like normal human eyes, nevertheless showed a sudden crush of horror as she realized what the Lord was saying.

"I cannot feel love, Murdercrow. I'm dead inside. I always will be. I told you from day one, that love is impractical and a bane on this world. Not only can I not feel it, but I have no desire to. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not."

"No…" Murdercrow said, her voice thick with grief. "But…I need you…"

"But I don't need you." The Lord said, and he turned around and left, as the sheer weight of realization came crashing down on Murdercrow, and she staggered back. She would have started crying, except it was very hard for her damaged eyes to produce tears. All she could do was step back, and back…

"Wait…"

The Lord's voice cut through her grief, and for a moment hope bloomed again. Maybe she had been wrong…maybe HE had been wrong? Maybe walking away had made him realize he did have feelings for her. She could hear him approaching again, and then she felt his hand on her cheek.

"Master…" she cooed, bringing her own hand up and placing it against his face, ignoring the scars. She didn't care. All she cared about was him.

"I have need of you after all."

And then the pain tore through her as the Lord jammed the blade from his arm into her, piercing through her heart. Her eyes went wide as saucers, and her mouth opened to emit a tiny gasp of surprise.

She blinked, finally realizing that the man she loved had just stabbed her through the heart, and slowly her blind eyes slid up to where she knew his face was.

"…..why." was all she could say.

"I said I needed two bloods for the symbols. I lied. I needed three. Trigon's, my own…and the blood of a broken heart. Yours, Murdercrow. I knew you had fallen for me the second I saw you, and I made sure those feelings developed for me. But just for this, Murdercrow. Your blood."

Murdercrow wanted to do so many things. She wanted to cry and scream and rage and…sleep…just sleep, as numbness replaced the pain in her chest, even as her blood ran down the blade coming from the Lord's arm and into the vial, collecting it.

"The funny thing is, Shadowmaster fell in love with you as well, and he meant it. But you chose me instead. And that, above all, shows the flaws in the human species that I must get rid of. You were never anything but a means to an end, Murdercrow. Just a pawn in a game of kings. Goodbye. Perhaps you will find peace in the hereafter, but most likely you will just find oblivion."

Murdercrow's eyes finally faded. The blind orbs went from being damaged to truly empty, as she slid off the blade and fell down the stairs behind her, coming to a rest at the bottom.

The Lord snapped the blade he had used on her back into the five claw points that extended from his fingers, as he removed the vial of blood he had collected from Murdercrow and turned to finish up the ritual. He was just finishing up the last drawing when he sensed him behind him. He raised himself to his feet and turned to look at Shadowmaster.

Shadowmaster, usually so calm, so collected, so unemotional, stood there. His face had been so unused in expression for so long it seemed stuck that way, but the fire in his eyes said it all. And for the first time since Shadowmaster had met the Lord, he spoke.

"YOU EVIL FUCKER."

"Yeah. I am." The Lord replied.

Shadowmaster's arm snapped out, hurling five daggers at the Lord, but the Lord was quicker, raising up his metal arm and blocking all five in a blur of motion, and then thrust his arm out as his claw blades fired off, piercing through Shadowmaster's chest.

Shadowmaster staggered back.

The Lord looked at him without emotion.

"Just die already."

Shadowmaster tumbled down the same stairs his love had just gone by, as the Lord turned back to his ritual. It was time.

No one saw Shadowmaster come to rest next to the body of Murdercrow, whom Shadowmaster had found and propped against the wall before he had gone up to try and avenge her death, a vengeance that had gone unsated. For a moment he was still, and then he managed to get an arm up and crawl over to Murdercrow, even as his life's blood pooled onto the floor. He took her hand.

"I'm here for you." He said.

And then he was gone.

Robin was saved from Sizzle's bizarre blade phallic transference torture by a single whispered word.

"Bitch."

Sizzle stopped, her ears pricking up. The word was followed by another.

"Whore."

Sizzle turned her head towards the sounds. Robin did so as well, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Savior?" he said.

Savior was still hanging by his restraints, seemingly dead to the world. But it was clearly his voice that had somehow whispered the words. Words that had angered Sizzle even more, as she let Robin go and strode over to Savior.  
"Well well, the Lord made you a retard and yet you are still somehow a pig. Find then, you can be first." Sizzle said, lifting Savior's head up, his eyes dull and blood still running down his face from the lobotomy that the Lord had performed on him.

Sizzle raised the knife as she drew Savior's face towards her.

And then Savior's eyes cleared, suddenly and abruptly, and as Sizzle's eyes widened in surprise he rammed his head forward, slamming his forehead into her nose and sending her flying backwards with a surprised and painful squeal.

"ROBIN GO!" Savior yelled, and Robin realized what Noel had done: he had drawn Sizzle away from him in order for Robin to make his last ditch effort. How Savior had known or guessed that was a mystery, once that Robin would ponder later as he only had seconds and what he had to do was extremely painful and yet it was the only way…

"ARGH!" Sizzle screamed on the floor.

And Robin met her scream with his as he twisted violently and forcibly dislocated his left shoulder. The injury sent shockwaves of agony through his torso, but it also provided the leverage he needed to finally pull his hand out of the bonds above him. A hard yank freed his other hand, as the restraint was designed to keep both hands immobile and couldn't work with just one.

"I'LL BURN YOU YOU…!" Sizzle was screaming as she got up, even as Robin tumbled to the floor, his badly damaged leg from the Lord's muscle extraction unable to hold his weight, but he didn't need that, all he needed to do was reach the emergency panel on his boot, hoping that while the Lord had been thorough he hadn't been thorough enough and that…

It snapped open.

The small emergency Birdarang fell into his hand.

Sizzle finally realized that Robin was free and turned away from Savior…

And Robin hurled the Birdarang, praying to all the gods of accuracy and luck that he…

The Birdarang slammed into Raven's hand restraints. It didn't sever them, but the part he needed to hit was scored, a direct bullseye.

The part built into the restraints that blocked Raven's powers.

And Raven, having woken up and seen what Robin was doing before Sizzle had returned, was ready, as the table suddenly glowed black and flew through the air, the knives on it flying everywhere as it slammed into Sizzle and smashed her into the wall behind her with another scream.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted, as all the restraints holding the Titans glowed black and then were torn away.

"YOU BASTARD!" Sizzle screamed as she threw the table off of her. The Lord's discarded katana lay near her, and she picked it up as fire exploded into being on her left hand. Robin was closest, and she fired a blast of intense heat at him.

Shimmer strands flew out and wrapped into a shield form so quickly it seemed almost instantaneously, protecting Robin from the fire. Robin recoiled from the heat, and then the gods smiled at him again as the corner of his eye caught his utility belt hanging on the wall nearby. He hadn't been able to see it before because of the angle it was at compared to the point of view he had possessed when he had been tied up. With his one good leg he pushed out, rolling towards the belt, even as Raven, the only uninjured one, flew forward to confront Sizzle as the Shimmer strand retracted.

And then it all happened at once.

Sizzle abandoned her fire attack to charge at Raven with the Lord's katana.

Raven blocked the slash with a quickly summoned black energy shield.

Robin reached his belt and pulled it down, fumbling for the nearest weapon compartment, not caring what he got as long as he could use it.

Raven took a step back as Sizzle raised the sword for another swing.

The Shimmer lashing out.

Robin grabbing a random disc, not knowing or caring what it was as he turned and threw as best he could.

The Shimmer whacking the sword, knocking it out of Sizzle's hands.

The disc missing Sizzle, flying past her.

Raven reaching up and catching the sword on an impulse…

As the heat disc Robin had drawn exploded behind Sizzle, the pyrokenetic completed focused on Raven and not knowing anything had been thrown behind her until it exploded, the blast wave throwing her forward…

As Raven's arms lowered the sword.

SQUKILSH!

The shock in Sizzle's eyes matched Raven's as Sizzle was impaled on the sword. But as Raven's eyes remained wide in shock at what had happened, at what she had just inadvertently done, Sizzle's shock turned to confusion.

And then, the final expression, one that would haunt Raven the rest of her days, as Sizzle's face suddenly looked…happy.

And then she was dead, her body dragging the sword out if Raven's hands as her corpse fell at Raven's feet.

And Raven realized she hadn't just won a battle by a means she hadn't wanted to use but had happened by accident.

She had just taken part in a very elaborate suicide ritual.

"Noel…good god, how are you ok?" Raven said. A few minutes had passed. Raven had made herself forget about Sizzle, about a woman so miserable with life she had looked upon her impending death with happiness. Instead, she had focused on healing the Titans, giving them their energy back as best she could. However, fixing up flesh wounds was one thing, but Raven was certain she couldn't regenerate brain tissue. But that point seemed to be moot, as Savior seemed to have recovered, somehow, from the Lord's lobotomy.

And the truth was, Savior had no idea what had happened either. He had felt the Lord jam something up his noise, and then everything had kind of gone grey, a soundless fog that Noel had no idea how to get out of. And there he had floated for who knows how long, and then suddenly light had appeared, and eventually his vision had returned to a view of the floor of the room he was in. Just in time for Sizzle to come back in. Savior didn't dwell on the how as he did on what was happening at the moment, and he had distracted Sizzle, hoping that Robin had something up his sleeve. And he had.

"I think so…name's Noel…you're Raven…I love you…the year is…"

"Ok, we can ponder this miracle later! We need to go!" Raven said. Savior got up, testing his limbs. They seemed to be working. The Shimmer came at his request as well.

The Shimmer….

Noel called the end, and it hovered over him, almost as if it was looking at him. It was now widely accepted that the Shimmer came from his nervous system, which was mutated.

"Did you do this?" he asked it. The Shimmer, whether it possessed any sentience or not, didn't give him an answer on whether it commanded the ability to regenerate brain tissue. Savior would dwell on the possibilities of it later.

"Titans." Robin said. Everyone looked at Robin, except Cyborg, who was busy replacing the parts the Lord had ripped apart with new ones (wait a minute, where had he gotten those? Did they crawl over? Oh who cared, he had them, ponder the why when he had time, Noel thought). "Is everyone ok?"

"I won't be ok until we take that psycho and make him pay for what he's done." Beast Boy said. All the other Titans nodded.

Robin looked around at the group he had grown to regard as a family. They may have been able to heal their physical wounds with Raven's abilities, and Cyborg could always replace his damaged parts, but the deeper wounds may never heal. They had no physical form.

Robin's face contorted into a look of rage. The Lord of the Night was going to learn the true meaning of pain before the night was over.

"Move out! Make for the roof! And watch out, he has two more fellow nutcases still running around!" Robin said, and turned and ran, the Titans at his heels.

Starfire found them first.

And what saddened Robin the most when he and the rest of them joined her, looking at the bodies of Murdercrow and Shadowmaster, was that she did not look a bit surprised. She looked sad, yes, but not surprised. As if she had expected she could find something like this.

As if she now understood just how terrible the human mind and soul could be.

Raven kneeled down, no longer feeling any malice towards the two, checking for any vitals just as a gesture. She knew they were gone.

Murdercrow's eyes were the worst, for even their blindness couldn't hide the look of betrayal and pain in them. Raven looked into them, and then reached out and slowly closed the lids.

She got up, looking at the Titans, as her sadness turned to resolve. The Titans mirrored her look.

They could hear chanting as they stormed up the stairs.

"Ylevisluvnoc Gniyfirret Gnimaercs! Ercassam Wasniahc Saxet! Retsnom…" The Lord was chanting, his arms spread wide, when he heard the door slam open behind him.

He lowered his arms, and for a moment he sat in amongst the symbols he had drawn before he got up.

"Well…I guess I guessed right." The Lord said, looking at the Titans.

"End of the line, you monster." Robin said.

"Is killing the innocent not enough? Is your bloodlust so overpowering you must murder your allies as well?" Starfire said.

"We weren't exactly close…" The Lord said. "Well, you managed to recover from my extractions, and come up here to stop me. I'd offer you a place in my new world, but I know you'd turn it down."

"This is not your world. And it NEVER WILL BE." Savior hissed. The Lord cocked his head and looked at the furious teenagers, somehow holding themselves in check. But he knew that wouldn't last.

"It's funny. You know what two words come to mind when I look at you people?"

"What?"

"Andrei Chikatilo."

For a moment the Titans anger faded as they became confused, unsure on what the Lord was saying. Only Robin's face remained unchanged.

"What's Andrei Chikatilo?" Beast Boy said.

"Who, child. Andrei Chikatilo is considered by many to be the world's greatest serial killer. People tend to know Bundy and Gacy and other American names, but the greatest proven body count belongs to a Russian schoolteacher. He murdered 53 people." The Lord said. "What does he have to do with you, you might ask. Simply this. Andrei was EXTRAORDINARILY unsubtle in his murders. He didn't really care who he killed: his victims were whoever he managed to talk into taking a walk into the woods with him. Once he had them, he attacked them like a savage beast: ripping out eyes and tongues, eviscerating with a pen knife, hell he even practiced cannibalism, and would often carry a cooking pot with him when he went out to kill, I kid you not. He terrorized Russia for more then a decade before he was caught. Now, why would this apply to you? Simple. The reason he was able to do so much damage was because the system he was in refused to admit he existed."

The Titans were silent.

"You see, you may be too young to remember the Soviet Union, but I know plenty about it. Like I said, Chikatilo lacked any sense of restraint or skill when it came to his killing. He probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the numbers he reached had he operated in the West. But you see, the Communist overlords would not admit someone like Chikatilo could exist. There were a ton of lies presented as the truth in those days, and one of the biggest was that the Soviet Union was crime-free. Why? Because they were Communists, and it was capitalism that produced such deviancy. Their system, on paper, could NOT produce a Western-style serial killer, therefore he did not exist. The truth was staring them in the face, but they ignored it. Hell, they were so good at ignoring the truth and believing their own lies they brainwashed themselves. And the same could be said to you. I speak the truth, and you ignore me, SCREAMING the lies you believe in an effort to make them true, to believe them to be true."

"You're…"

"Right, insane. Sick. Evil. A monster, a killer, a madman, a deviant, shall I go on? That's what I am to you, right? Just like Copernicus when he suggested that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe. Just like Aristarchus when he first suggested the Earth was flat. Just like Galileo when he suggested the Earth revolved around the sun instead of vice-sera. The Church threatened him with all sorts of nastiness for that revelation, demanding he renounce actual reality as a lie, because it didn't fit with THEIR truth. Darwin, anyone? Evolutionism? 'MAN EVOLVED FROM APES? LIAR!' And we all know what happened there. Hell, people didn't believe anything Einstein theorized as possible in reality at first. All truth has three stages, Titans. First it is mocked, then it is violently opposed, and then it is accepted as self-evident. And I believe it is time for the world to meet the next speaker of the truth: myself."

"We won't let you." Robin said.

"Right, of course. There's that violent opposition I mentioned. It's funny. You want to stop me because you believe my acts are a threat to the world. Maybe you weren't listening, but your acts threaten the world far more then I do."

"We don't harm innocent people…" Starfire said.

"INNOCENCE IS IRREVELANT. Human civilization can no longer tolerate such nonsense as innocent or guilt, or good or evil. What needs to be addressed is the PRACTICAL ISSUES, and that issue is, CIVALIZATION NEEDS TO BE CLEANSED." The Lord snapped. "Read some history! The Roman Empire conquered nearly the entire known world, and then its leaders grew corrupt and deviant, and it collapsed like a sack of cards. Look at a map drawn during the 17th or 18th centuries by Britain, seems like the only part of the world they don't control is the ocean! Now they've been reduced to a small island with an inbred "royal family" which seems to exist mostly for people to gossip about. And new we have the States. And believe me, people are VERY bad at paying attention to history, so expect them to suffer the same fate. But…in here we have a problem. For while humans haven't changed at all since they were bashing each other over the head with clubs, the weapons certainly have. And this time, the corruption just needs to push a button, and the world vanishes in nuclear fire."

"You ain't the first to think that, you know."

"Maybe so, but I am the first to fully grasp the harsh, needed truth of this era. And that truth is that human society is teetering on the edge of an abyss, the bright lights of those who manage to tap their potential being drowned out by the tidal wave of wastrels who refuse to attempt it, instead hiding behind the notion that they "deserve" something from life instead of having to work for it. No one wants responsibility any more. They just want rewards, and they want them yesterday. This is not a society that can survive. And I will not let the brilliant creature that is the homo sapiens, the only creature on this planet granted the gift of the cerebral cortex, be destroyed by the animals that dare call themselves man, when all they tap is the reptile brain and limbic system! This will not be tolerated any more!"

"That's why there's us." Robin said.

"And that is the apex of the lie you believe. You believe that YOU are the ones who will save humanity from itself. No. You are the manifestation of the deepest lie of all: nothing is wrong. Or rather, nothing is wrong because you can't see anything is wrong. That is the rule that humanity has served under its whole existence, but it is a rule of an ANIMAL. Humanity is filled with ANIMALS. We could all be gods among living beings if we choose, but instead we choose to continue being hairless apes! THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED! It is folly on a scale so large it boggles even my mind!" The Lord ranted. "You believe you are saving the world by defeating those like you, who wear costumes and claim to be greater then human due to an errant mistake that granted them a mutation, or because they were briefly able to tap their great potential and build something that allows them to destroy things with even more efficiency then what their animal natures can. Our whole civilization is built on trying to constantly find new ways for us to kill each other! We stumbled over all the other things our people made on our quest to make better weapons! You call ME insane? THAT IS INSANE!"

Robin wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words.

"So…go ahead and believe your lies. Believe you are the saviors of humanity, here to stop me because I am deviant in your eyes and therefore must be destroyed. You are the deviants. You go and put a few people in jail and pat yourselves on the back for making the world a better place, while you ignore men and women harming each other and their children behind closed doors, ignore how people have been massacring each other for centuries because each has a different delusion and won't accept the other people's madness, ignore how people take their need to survive and combine it with their brain and produce nothing but ruin and atrocity. You think you know what you are and what I am? I'll tell you the absolute truth: in reality you are stupid, blind immature children. But I know who I am. I am the one who speaks the truth, the absolute truth, the truth that can save this world and this species. I am the one who will teach humanity to truly tap the nigh-infinite depths of potential life and reality has gifted this species with. I am the one who will take this species from the mud and bring them to the stars. But above ALL ELSE, I am the one who will look upon this world, and see all it's lies and waste for what it is, and I will stand up, take my blade, and I will do what no one else has the wherewithal and courage and ENLIGHTMENT to do: I will draw a line in the sand, and I will say THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER."

And then it was over, as the Lord stopped talking, his breath seething in and out through his teeth as he looked at the Titans, looked at what they would say that would decide everything.

"We'll make sure your padded cell is nice and thick." Robin said as he drew his staff and extended it, even as the Titans found their anger again, preparing themselves for combat.

The Lord sighed. Despite the fact that he known what was going to happen, actually seeing the children decide to continue to believe their lies rather then try and face the truth, as a true human being would muster the courage for, was disenchanting. But that was their choice.

"So you decide to stand against me."

"But of course." Robin said. "No matter what you think, we're the good guys. And as long as we draw breath, we will never let you complete the ritual."

"My dear child, whatever gave you the idea you are doing that?"

Robin's anger faded again as confusion came back. Robin pondered the Lord's words.

And then a possibility came to him that scared him so bad it chilled his blood as cold as ice.

"You claim MY claims are all a matter of perception. How ironic that your belief has come back to bite you. You came up here because you heard me chanting. You thought that my ritual was incomplete because there were no bangs or earthquakes or something of the sort. Child, let it be known that not everything must happen with a bang. Sometimes it is just a whimper. And sometimes people won't make any grand demonstrations until they have a proper audience. An audience that they strung along on their belief when they heard them coming up the stairs by sitting down and chanting some nonsense."

"Robin…what is he saying?" Starfire asked.

"Please don't tell me…" Raven said.

"Oh no…" Savior whispered, coming to the same realization that Robin had.

"Children, the ritual has already been completed. I finished it twelve minutes ago."

Silence. The Titans stared at the Lord. The Lord met their gaze.

"Perhaps you will try to sake the fear pouring through your veins, a true reaction of animals, by claiming I am lying? No children. I have the power. I can feel it within me. And if you really want to see it to believe it, then open up your eyes."

The Lord drew in a deep breath, and then he threw back his head to the heavens and roared.

The shadows, cast by the lights on the tower, suddenly were pulled away from the Titan's feet, being draw into the Lord's being, even as the night sky seemed to distort and then BEND DOWN, the blackness within spiraling downward.

Waves of force suddenly buffeted the Titans as the Lord called upon his new power, drawing on all the darkness within him and bringing it within himself, calling out to every shadow and blackness there was. With a small clang, his metallic arm suddenly fell off, the discarded limb lying there as shadow energy flowed out and formed into a new arm, as black as pitch, darker then any skin tone an "African-American" could ever possess. Living shadows writhed on the Lord's shoulders and then flowed downward, forming a long cloak of living black, the essence of the night itself, even as the scars on the Lord's face suddenly vanished, healing away like they had never been.

It was done. The Lord could now tap into every kind of darkness as a power supply, an infinite, ever-there battery, much like Trigon could with his tainted land. And with that power at his command, he could use it in any form he chose.

As black horns extended from the Lord's head and formed into a twisted crown, the Lord stopped his yell, lowering his eyes, no longer possessing any pupils, possessing nothing but inky orbs that still saw, looking at the Titans.

The name was no longer just a name.

The Lord of the Night was now a reality.

"So…Titans…do you see the truth now?" the Lord said. The most eerie thing was that despite the fact that he had just ascended to the level of a god, the Lord's voice remained unchanged.

And then Robin screamed as his fury roared back, pushing away his fear and his logic as he charged, swinging his staff.

The Lord lazily lifted one arm and blocked the metal rod. Robin went into a frenzy, combining all his learned techniques and his rage into a dancing fury of blows, going so fast most of the Titans only saw a blur.

And it didn't mean a damn thing, as the Lord, with an almost bored tone, blocked all the blows with his arms, and then to try and drive the point home, borrowed a move from Neo as he put one arm behind his back and blocked all of Robin's attack with one hand.

After several seconds of that, he finally countered, grabbing the staff, twisting it, and kicking Robin, lightly, in the chest. His "light" blow was still enough to send Robin flying back into the Titans, who caught him. The Lord lowered the staff and, with a flash of black power, disintegrated it into nothing.

"Now?"

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled.

The Lord almost respected the Titans as they charged. Courage was truly one of the greatest things that the human could do, fighting down the fear that comes with the desire to survive and acting blatantly against that desire in order to accomplish a seemingly higher goal.

A pity they could not let go of the lie that motivated the courage.

And so the Lord flew up as the Titans ran underneath him, stopping and preparing to change direction and press their attack.

"Sorry children." The Lord said, and thrust up his hand.

Some distance away, some people happened to be looking out onto the island the Titans lived on. From a distance, it didn't seem like much was happening.

And then it all changed, as the island suddenly exploded, the T-Tower blown to bits as a gigantic surge of power detonated on the island. A mushroom cloud plumed up as flaming wreckage rained for miles.

Above the smoke floated the Lord, looking down into the destruction he had wrought.

With ease.

"Goodbye children." The Lord said.

It was time to begin the cleansing. And no better place to start then Jump City.

The Lord turned and flew, ready and eager to begin humanity's final night.

Nothing was left of the T-Tower. All the Titans had built had been wiped out with a gesture, as if it never were.

But a building is but a thing. What matters are the people who built it.

Gasping in surprise, Cyborg stood, throwing the broken wreckage off of him. He blinked. What he saw overwhelmed him: his home, and all his friends…gone…

Black energy suddenly encased some wreckage and flung it into the air, as Raven emerged, coughing. A brachiosaur suddenly appeared, rubble raining off its huge body as Beast Boy coughed as well and turned human again.

Starfire appeared, dragging Robin from beneath a pile of twisted metal as she melted and blew it away, and Savior appeared a second later, the Shimmer hurling the wreckage aside.

"Oh god…everyone…are you ok…?" Robin said, testing his legs. Nothing was broken. It was a miracle.

"Yes and no…" Savior said. "We're unharmed…but we're still all doomed."

"How did we survive? Such power…" Starfire said.

"This wasn't meant as a killing strike. It was meant as a warning. I think, in some part of himself, the Lord respected some of our qualities, and instead of killing us, he did this. As a warning." Raven said, looking at the ruin of the island.

"We have to go after him!" Robin said.

"Dude, are you INSANE? You saw what he did! He blew our home into bits with a wave of his hand! Let Superman and the others handle him, we sure as hell…" Beast Boy said.

Explosions suddenly sounded in Jump City, and the sound of screaming suddenly wafted to the Titans. Beast Boy stopped, and then his face turned grim.

"Let's go kick his ass." He snarled.

"Yes. He spared us as a warning. I say fate spared us because we have a purpose. And that is to show the Lord the real ultimate truth." Robin said, as he felt for his belt. Wonder of wonders, his communicator still worked.

"But we won't stand alone." Robin said, as he punched in a code. "C'mon, pick up…yes. Hey Conner, Robin here. Listen up, we have a serious SERIOUS problem. Remember that idea you wafted by me last week? Did you ask the others? You did? GREAT. Get them. Now. Yes, NOW. And get to Jump City as fast as you can, all of you. I'll explain when you're here." Robin said.

"Who was that?" Raven asked.

"The Lord spared us because he liked us? Because we were "stupid, blind, immature children"? Well, I'm going to show him just how much power we "children" have."

"But Robin, why don't you get on the horn to, say, the older, MORE POWERFUL groups, and…" Cyborg began.

New explosions rocked the city. A building collapsed in flames.

"There's no time." Robin said. And he had another, unspoken reason. He and his friends were going to face the Lord…and if they fell, they would have hopefully bought enough time for the others to arrive.

But…

"Titans, GO!" Robin said, as the Titans headed for the greatest battle of their lives.


	32. Justice: Line In The Sand

Chapter 32: Line In The Sand

The Lord had long forgotten his past, his memories long consigned to oblivion, not needed or wanted. Indeed, the only thing he could even call remembering was brief flashes in dreams, of a heated blade that tore into his face, whoever wielding it ignoring his screams…

He couldn't even remember if he had screamed. Perhaps he had stopped eventually, knowing they did nothing but bring more pain.

But that was then, and this was now. The past didn't matter. His injuries didn't matter. All that mattered was that he knew the truth, and that he finally had the power to make that truth a reality.

Jump City's Correctional Facility was known as just that, an ordinary prison for housing ordinary people. The metahumans the Titans defeated went to prisons with metahuman holding capacities, like Iron Heights or the Slab. It didn't make the prison any less dangerous though.

His ability to sense people's "essence" now enhanced ten times over, the Lord didn't even have to go into the prison. He could feel the sense of corruption, evil, and malice a hundred feet from the jail. Here was a great lie of this society: the idea that a prison provided any beneficial aspects. Bullshit. Rehabilitation was a lie. Men like this could not and did not want to be changed. And locking them away produced no great purpose rather then making them better criminals and feeding their hatreds and sick desires. When you put a whole bunch of psychopaths and predators in one place, all you got was concentrated psychopathism and predatorism, for lack of proper words.

It was not needed or wanted. Not being able to tap your potential was bad. Thinking reality owed you ANYTHING except the potential you refused to tap was bad. But humans who would kill and harm others and steal their potential, all because of insecurity that they could not tap theirs… that was inexcusable. Unforgivable.

Not practical.

The Lord held out his hands, and black power crackled and then exploded off of them, flying out and into the prison. It blitzed through the structure, tearing and burning apart every human it met. A legion of men who were united in their enjoyment of a scream now united in a scream. The prison and surrounding buildings exploded as the Lord burned away the taint, not sparing anyone, not even the guards. Most were as bad as the prisoners, poisoned by the atmosphere and becoming just as brutal and cruel as the thugs they were supposed to guard. And the rest…had nothing to offer society anyway.

The Lord turned and flew on.

Before he managed to cleanse everything (and he was speaking mostly in metaphors when he said this would be humanity's final night: it would take some time to clean up the world), he was sure people would write and speak about how terrible his deeds were, and how all the death he would cause made him a monster.

How wrong they were. Death was one of the most natural acts of existence. All things were brought to life with the inevitability that it would end. The purpose of life was to be born, and perhaps enjoy your time in any way you could before you died. Your time would come, but then again, the other natural desire was to make it last. Immortality can only be achieved via children. To produce and raise them, you had to have the abilities to stave off death, at least for a time. But, in the end, death was part of life.

And indeed, everything living was encoded with that desire, a feeling that ran through the deepest parts of all things: the desire to survive. Those who did not have the proper desire in place quickly died out, as it should be. And those who did not have the proper tools either evolved them or died out as well. It was natural and almost beautiful, in a way.

And then…mankind.

Indeed, as the Lord swooped down into an alleyway where two groups of punks were engaging in a gang war, he thought of sharks. As a group of boys, high on drugs and the sense of invincibility that came with youth, ganged up on another boy and began stomping on him on the ground, he reflected that despite the brutality, it couldn't match the brutality of a great white. _Jaws was remembered for a reason: for a fairly accurate if entertainment oriented show on why sharks were perhaps the greatest pure predators on the Earth, and definitely in the water. The way sharks were designed to kill, and the savagery that they could bring to the act…it was truly the act of a king among beasts._

But the Lord would not be seeking to wipe out the shark species. For all their brutality and savagery, they lacked the key thing that took an animal and made him into a human: malice.

The act of killing should be done to survive. To eat, or to try and avoid being eaten, to protect the grounds where you eat and perhaps to protect your young so they could eat. Those were the grounds for death.

Not because they had a different skin colour.

Not because they had a different way of thinking.

Not because they were taller or shorter or smarter or dumber then you.

You killed to survive.

You did not kill for the sake of doing it.

Death was natural. But mankind had perverted it into a blasphemy, taking their desire to survive and filtering it up through their brain until it became a "good reason" to kill someone else.

Indeed, the two gangs fighting were ultimately just expressing their desire to survive. But their modern brains, conditioned by the safety of their modern society and no real predators, warped those instincts into sacrilege.

As The Lord fired out blades composed of shadows, ripping apart the gang members, he pondered this problem.

Ultimately, it must have been a mistake.

Assuming for the sake of argument that humans had been created by some higher power that arranged these things, be it God making something in his image or mother nature placing a unique survival skill in one kind of animal or just fate rolling a dice and tossing whatever came out together, granting humanity intelligence must have been an error.

Or rather, the method of doing it was.

Once again assuming that there were higher beings, and adding to that assumption by the presence of an error that they are not ABSOLUTELY, UTTERLY infallible, one could assume that, by their very nature, that mistakes made by such entities were very very few. But by the same assumption, one could probably accurate predict that when a mistake was made, it was a hell of a big one.

Much like mankind and intelligence.

Granting the gift of an advanced cerebral cortex, giving homo sapiens the only true triune brain, was not the mistake. But such a system takes time to develop, and indeed the process of human civilization shows how a species will utilize its gifts over thousands of years.

The error lay, in the course of designing, adapting, and perhaps perfecting this gift, that whoever or whatever ran reality did not RE-ADAPT THE OTHER PARTS OF MANKIND.

Perhaps the apes that had eventually become humans were meant to be special in one way or another (indeed, the erroneous preconception that we evolved brains and then started walking upright is reversed: we first began walking upright and then developed the brain) but before that time, they were just like other animals. Before the cerebral cortex, they commanded the same systems for other animal minds: a "reptile" brain for the task of motion, and the limbic system which controlled instinct, or if you would, the four F's: feeding, fighting, fleeing, and fucking (add in sleep and protecting one's young as variations on those). If humanity was given the gift of true thought, of being able to think beyond the base ideas of survival, to plan and explore, to be able to think in metaphors and introspect, then why in the hell were we left with these primitive, problem causing parts within our brain as well?

It was either a mistake, or a joke. A grand cosmic joke, where a species is given the ability to ascend beyond their own set state, yet held to the ground by their still there animal instincts, which were altered by intelligence on the way up.

When the brain got it right (or perhaps rather when it was able to properly adapt the animal instincts), you got such great human things as science, the ability to understand and record the inner workings of everything around you, and such great human emotions as courage, and compassion, and perhaps the greatest of all, love.

And when the brain got it wrong…

Difference. Greed. Fear. Jealousy. Hatred. Racism. Insanity. And sometimes, even Evil.

Waste.

Perhaps, in the end, that was humanity's greatest curse. All animals of the same species are given a pre-set program when they are born, to serve until they die.

But not humanity. Humanity was Unique. Humanity was blessed and scarred with difference. And for all the great things that had brought, it had also brought endless death, war, destruction, horror, and atrocity.

Yes, perhaps it was not a mistake. It was a joke. A joke on a level beyond the ability for humans to understand.

But the Lord had tapped the potential that all mankind possessed, using all he could muster and more, and he had finally ascended to that level.

And he wasn't laughing.

And that was what the Lord knew he ultimately had to do as he flew among Jump City, annihilating everything in his path, wiping out all the scoundrels and worth-nothings that society had to be rid of, sparing one or two along the way who actually had potential to become so much more then they were with the right help. He had to eliminate difference.

Once it was all done, there would be no more reason for mankind to hate, fear, or covert his fellow man. When he was done, there would be no more governments, no more religions, no more groups pitted against each other. He would cleanse all their brains of their delusions and stupidities. If he had to, he would eliminate skin color and sex as well, turn humanity into a race of blue-skinned asexuals. But difference had to be destroyed. Otherwise humanity would keep fighting until there was nothing left of their society, their civilization, their world. It would all be gone, and all in the name of waste.

How many would survive the purge? A million? Maybe two? Once it was over, the Lord would gather them up, and he would show them the truth. And once their minds were clear, and all parts of their animal self were banished to oblivion where they belonged, the Lord would show them how to tap the greatness that lurked inside all humans. True, they would not all make the same things, and some would not be able to do as much as others, but they would be united in their acts of tapping their potential, and making a true paradise out of the rotting cesspool their society had once been. And if any deviance popped up, the Lord would deal with it immediately.

How long would he live? Was he immortal now? Maybe. He would have time enough to learn once he had culled the flock and properly taught the remainders. Time enough to take this planet and its greatest species and build a Utopia, free of all the terrible things difference brought to it. He would take the darkness that had threatened to swallow humanity, and he would use it to save humanity instead.

Was this a fascist totalitarian nightmare? Some people would definitely perceive it as that. But that was irrelevant. What mattered was the truth.

Humanity needed to be cleansed and then guided. It may not have been fair. It may not have been desired. It may not have been right.

But it was what humanity needed.

And ultimately, it was what humanity deserved. They could have saved themselves. They all had the ability. It may have taken great amounts of hard work and sacrifice, but humanity had had millennia to understand what the Lord knew. But they chose not to. They chose to go the easier path, following their instincts, and committing horror after horror after horror, blinking out the bright lights that managed to spring up, drowning them under a tide of their uselessness, and for what?

Waste.

Humanity had lost the right to decide its future. It had lost it long ago. It did this to itself. It was what it needed and deserved.

And it was time.

And so went the Lord's thoughts as he flew from end of the city to another, leaving nothing but destruction in his wake. He stopped at one end, preparing to double back and clean up what was left.

His last thoughts before it happened was that despite the fact this was what humanity had sentenced itself to, most of it would not stand by and let themselves be destroyed. After all, so many were ruled by their survival instincts, and enough would be able to tap their brains to know that their best chance to stop him (which would not happen, but they'd try anyway) was to send their best and brightest after…

"STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And then something hit him. Hard. Hard enough to send him flying into the ground, making a large crater as he was buried in the concrete.

The Lord blinked. Well, that was a bit unexpected. He lifted himself up and was not surprised to see what he saw when he floated out of the crater.

New staff in hand, Robin stood there, his eyes as hard as flint, his fellows all there as well, ready to stand alongside him and fight.

"Like I said before, end of the line monster." Robin spat. The Lord cocked his head.

"And so the lie is so great they ignore my mercy and continue to make the foolish stand. Do you really have any idea what you face, Titans?"

"A god? Well then god, let me tell you a little something. According to Greek legend, the gods came from somewhere, from beings of even greater power. They were called the Titans. So are we."

"Ah, speaking of Cronos and Zeus, are we? Children, you are not ones who can banish me, no matter how you try and mix your metaphors. One last time, I will go against every belief I have, simply because I respect how you have tapped the better aspects of this foul, corrupt species. Stand down. I do believe I could use you in my world."

Robin cocked his own head.

"You claim the truth? Lord, there is no absolute truth. You command nothing but your own madness. Perhaps we do as well. But our truth speaks of this: you are the bad guy, and we are the good guys. And we WILL stop you." Robin said.

"And he won't be alone."

A new figure floated down from the sky. The Lord recalled how strongly he had been hit, and looking at the new figure, he finally understood who had done it. None of the Titans could have mustered the strength, but this boy certainly could, the teenager with a skintight blue and red costume with a black leather jacket and shades, the big S on the back of his jacket very familiar.

"Superboy." The Lord said.

"And friends." Superboy replied.

A dark figure bounded down from the building, landing next to the Titans. Her outfit was also very familiar: a black all body outfit with a horned cowl, a yellow bat outline on her chest, and a mask sewn shut at the mouth.

"Batgirl." Batgirl stated. A quick blaze of red and gold zipped past her and stopped to reveal a familiar child with a bowl-shaped haircut.

"Impulse."

A blonde teenage girl in blue jeans and a black shirt with a double W on it flew down next to Superboy.

"Wonder Girl."

A line shot from a building, and another blonde teenage girl slid down on it. She wore a red outfit and mask, except for her skirt, which was white. A large quiver of arrows hung from her back, and she clutched a large, powerful looking red bow.

"Arrowette."

The next appearing figure had a real fancy entrance: a white gas suddenly plumed from the cracks and suddenly manifested as a human. Specifically, another girl. The fact that she appeared to be composed entirely of some kind of gas made it a little more difficult to make such identifications, but she wore a white full body outfit and a grey overcoat that was much like Neo from the Matrix movies.

"Secret."

The final entrance was also fancy: a smoke bomb (at least that's what it looked like) exploded, and out of it stepped a black girl with red hair in a purple costume, carrying a staff.

"Empress." She said. And she was the last.

"So you decided to make a stand…by calling in more foolish children? Name or not, you are far more Teen then Titans. Having a knee-jerk membership drive won't help you or save you." the Lord said, and shook his head.

"We're not the Titans. They're the Titans." Superboy said.

"What's in a name? You're still all children."

"We may be children, but we know who we are. And we know who you are." Robin said, as all the new teenagers gathered around the Titans. "You're the criminal who needs to be brought to justice. And we are that justice." Robin said.

"You're still just children." The Lord said.

"Then we're YOUNG JUSTICE! And so, to one and all, JUSTICE GO!" Robin yelled, and the teenagers swarmed forward.

The Lord chuckled.

"You know, if you are here to protect this city, it's a good thing you decide to confront me in this direction." The Lord said, and thrust out his hand.

"MOVE!" Robin yelled.

A gigantic blast flew out of the Lord's hands, destroying everything in front of him. The blast flew on and detonated off in the distance, the explosion blasting another mushroom cloud in the distance.

No sign of the so called "Young Justice" remained when the smoke cleared. The Lord sighed.

"Too bad…"

The smoke around the Lord's head suddenly contorted, and the Lord gasped and coughed as the dirty air turned into something stronger. Caught by surprise, he reared back…

And Raven appeared out of the shadows behind him, grabbing him and yanking him back into the darkness.

Across the world, the Sahara desert was also covered in night, the lifeless sand dreadfully cold to match the blistering heat of the day. There was virtually no life around, except for the cactuses. It was truly a dead zone.

Then a shadow portal opened in the sky.

The Lord flew out, righting himself and stopping, hovering above the ground. A second later various teenagers began falling out of the portal, even as a zipping blur deposited more in the sands. Within three seconds the Titans and their new allies, dubbed "Young Justice" were all there.

"No one for you to kill out here, Lord. Just you, and us. And only one side is leaving." Robin said. 

"Nice work pulling us all out of the way Impulse." Beast Boy said.

"And nice work with the gas there. Useful ability your body has." Savior said to Secret. The girl made out of gas smiled shyly.

"So…you want to make a stand out here?" the Lord said.

"Hell yeah."

"…..Very well."

The Lord floated down, landing on the sand. He held out his right hand and darkness swirled around and out from it, and then it cleared having formed a new sword, a katana at least eight feet long.

"Do you stupid children actually think you can defeat me?" he asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. But we won't surrender, as long as there is a hope that we can stop you." Robin said.

"Heh, Spoken like a true child. Very well then. Make your stand." The Lord said as he brought the sword to his side. "And learn the harshest truths of all: only the fittest survive. And he who lives on hope DIES OF STARVATION."

The teenage heroes streamed forward. Like Robin had said, they were the closest to the Lord when he was causing his destruction. But there was another reason.

If the children fell, the adults would take their place. And hopefully the adults would have worn the Lord of the Night down enough so that they could handle it.

In any case, the Titans and the new ones charged forward, knowing this was for all the marbles.

And no matter the result, best or worse, they all knew their future could be summed up in four words.

Suffer The Little Children.

Alright alright, before you start yelling "Hey I don't know who so and so is!" I've put a handy guide up below. So go read that, and hope it's enough, because this won't end without death…

In the chapters of Black and White, the Titans have battled sociopaths, monsters, lunatics, and demons, and perhaps they think they've seen it all…

But now they and their allies will battle a god…

They ain't seen NOTHING yet.

Who's Who 

Robin called a bunch of teenage superheroes to help out with the Lord. Here is a short biography of the new arrival's names, real names, origin, and powers…to the best of my knowledge. If anyone wants to email me and add some info it would help. Anyway, here's all the info I have.

Superboy

Real Name: Conner Kent (given to him by Clark Kent's parents, who are raising him).

Origin: When Superman was "killed" by Doomsday, a genetics lab called Cadmus tried to take some of Superman's genetic material to clone a new Superman. However, they could not completely figure out how to clone kryptonian genes, so they had to graft human genes onto the clone as well. The clone was being "grown" when some stuff happened and the clone busted out, not fully grown, so he appeared to be a teenager. The clone promptly became Superboy.

Powers: Unable to perfectly clone Superman, the scientists at Cadmus gave Superboy a power called "tactile telekinesis". This ability allows him to mimic most of Superman's powers, and also grants him a useful "wild talent" where he had make anything shatter by touching it. However, the true extent of this "substitute power" is not yet known.

Batgirl

Real Name: Cassandra Cain

Origin: Her father, David Cain, was one of the world's greatest assassins, and not being of sound mind, he decided to raise his daughter to be the proverbial perfect weapon. Indeed, so great was his devotion to teaching her combat techniques that he didn't even teach her how to talk. However, when he put her to the test at the age of ten, by dressing her up and sending her to talk to a crime lord (who suspected nothing until Cassandra put her fist through his throat) the killing made Cassandra realize how much she disliked murder, and she fled her father. The teenager eventually ended up in Gotham, where she assumed the role of the third Batgirl during the course of the "No Man's Land" event (long and complicated, don't ask). Taken under the wing of Batman and Oracle, she eventually learned how to speak.

Powers: Batgirl is human, but she may very well be the greatest martial artist in the world. Greater then Robin, and maybe even greater then Batman, Batgirl's ability to read body language and battle in hand to hand is virtually unmatched. Put this way: A villain in the Batman mythos, Lady Shiva, possesses martial arts skills so great that even Batman had yet to beat her in a one on one fight. Batgirl bested Lady Shiva in one. Case in point.

Impulse

Real Name: Bart Allen

Origin: When you can run faster then the speed of light, set places in time seem to lose some of their meaning. Hence, the confusing origin of Bart Allen, the grandson of Barry Allen, the second Flash who died during the Crisis of Infinite Earths event back in the mid 80's. His father was fathered by Barry Allen in the 29th century but for some reason Barry returned to the 20th, leaving his son, and eventually Bart to be raised in the future. However, Bart eventually returned to the past as well, and became Impulse.

Powers: Impulse commands the ability to tap into the Speed Force and run at speeds approaching the speed of light. This allows him to not only move really fast, but run up walls, across ceilings, and by "vibrating" his molecules at super-speed, phase through objects. He also commands the ability to make "speed force clones" of himself, copies of himself that command all his abilities and let him experience what they experience. Also, Bart can remember anything he reads at super-speed.

Wonder Girl

Real Name: Cassandra Sandsmark

Origin: Originally a teenager who got her hands on some ancient Greek artifacts, the Sandals of Hermes and the Gauntlet of Atlas (which granted her speed, flight, strength, and stamina), Cassie eventually somehow got up to Olympus, the home of the Greek Gods which also created Wonder Woman, and managed to speak with Zeus, King of the Gods. Zeus was impressed with her bravery, and granted Cassie her own powers that did not need artifacts to be used.

Powers: Wonder Girl commands powers similar to Wonder Woman's, so she has superhuman strength, endurance, and the ability to fly at great speeds.

Arrowette

Real Name: Cissie King-Jones

Origin: Her mother was the original Arrowette, Olympic archery medalist Bonnie King, Bonnie was obsessed with Green Arrow and hence became the original Arrowette. Cissie's mother trained her to follow in her footsteps, which may have been due more to the fact that Bonnie wasn't completely mentally stable. In any case, Cissie assumed the identity and used it.

Powers: Arrowette has near perfect aim with a bow and arrow, and many special "gimmick" arrows ala Green Arrow that have special effects.

Secret

Real Name: Unknown (called Suzie)

Origin: Secret was a woman with a unique metagene that allowed her to transform her body into gas. The activation of that gene was tragic though: her insane brother (who would later become the dangerous villain Harm) needed a "sacrifice" and threw a radio into the bathtub when she was taking a bath. Somehow, this activated her metagene. This somehow led to her becoming a ward of the D.E.O (Department of Extranormal Operations) who kept her in an air-tight room and studied her until she realized the extent of the "bad things" they were doing and escaped. The department chased after her with the intent of destroying her, but they were fooled when a container of gas was substituted in her stead to them. They destroyed the container and went on their merry way. Hence, Suzie can live in freedom, abet in "secret". 

Powers: Originally a normal girl who could covert her body into a gaseous state, Suzie has found her power growing stronger as she aged, to the point where she is permanently stuck in her gaseous form. However, this ability allows her to change her shape and size at will, and she can also alter her body's toxicity, from points where she functions as "Knock Out Gas" to theoretically making her form dangerously poisonous. I am unsure of her ability to change her density, but I believe she can do that too.

Empress

Real Name: Unknown (to me)

Origin: This is the only one I lack information about. I know that Empress has some kind of roots in voodoo, and had some tragedies happen involving her mother and father, but where she came from and such I lack details. So, all I know is that she came from a forest, and she has some kind of connection to Arrowete. If anyone has better info I'll be glad to hear it.

Powers: Not fully know. She appears to have a kind of limited telekinesis (in a battle with Robin, she literally froze him in his tracks with some kind of mental command/attack) and possibly a teleportation ability to appear out of smoke. She appears to practice some kind of magic, most likely voodoo. She carries a staff and is also very skilled in swordmanship. Besides that, I have no idea. So why am I using her? Because her name is so cool!


	33. Justice: Young Blood

Chapter 33: Young Blood

"Ladies first." The Lord said. No sooner had he formed his sword then he had put it aside and gestured with his bare hands.

In the space of half a second, Arrowette drew one of her namesakes, cocked it, aimed it, and fired. The arrow head exploded a foot from the Lord, as a bolo flew out of it and wrapped around him.

"Do you actually think…"

The bolo balls exploded. When the smoke cleared, the Lord was standing there, unharmed but looking a tad bit chagrined.

"Then again…"

"Azarath…" Raven chanted, as she lifted several groups of sand up in individual telepathic holds. "Metrion…" the black energy formed the sand into triangle shapes. Impulse blurred around them, reaching his hands through the energy and rubbing the sand at super-speed, creating enough friction and heat to transform the sand shapes into glass daggers. "ZINTHOS!" Raven hurled the glass daggers at the Lord.

The Lord waved his hand and they exploded in front of him.

Superboy flew through the storm of glass, the shards not harming him, and pistoned his fist across the Lord's face, the impact so loud it sounded like a thunder crack. The Lord staggered back as Superboy reared back for another punch.

The Lord caught his hand.

"Say, your older self has great hearing. Ever wonder what Richard Simmons sounds like at the volume of 10,000 Hiroshimas?" The Lord asked, and slammed his hands over Superboy's ears, sending sound waves into Superboy's brain. The waves were so powerful that even Superboy's innate "invincibility" couldn't handle them, and his brain would have been turned to mush had a Birdarang not impaled itself in the Lord's hand, getting his attention. Superboy staggered back, his ears bleeding, as Robin leapt at the Lord from behind, swinging his staff.

"Ever wonder what twenty-eight teeth sound like getting kicked down the back of a psycho's throat?" Robin said as he leapt in.

"Please." The Lord replied, and swung out his leg, catching Robin with a back kick and sending him flying through the air. Robin would have splattered against a cliff face had a teleportation portal not opened behind him. A second later he and Raven re-appeared near the Lord.

In the meantime, Beast Boy had become a grizzly and reared up before the Lord. Grizzlies are a lot faster then most people realize, and combined with their terrible strength and cruel claws, can do a HUGE amount of damage to a human body. And Beast Boy had every intention of doing just that, as he swiped his paw across the Lord's face. A strike like that would have torn a normal man's head off like a cheap doll's.

The Lord's head snapped to the side, and then slid back. Long wounds had been opened up across his face via Beast Boy's claws, but those didn't last long as dark power glowed in the Lord's blood and the wounds slid shut.

"Bad memories there." He said, and blasted Beast Boy in the chest with an energy burst from his hands. The bear he had become tumbled back before he turned into a hummingbird to right himself.

Batgirl jumped in with a kick, but the Lord twirled and his cloak swung out, knocking the teenager away. Wonder Girl and Secret attacked in twin, throwing a punch and a gas-formed temporarily high-density battering ram at the Lord, but he stopped them with both his hands and shoved the two girls backwards. The Lord ducked as Empress flew over him, missing her staff strike, stood up and leaned back Matrix-style as Starfire missed her own charge, and then spun and kicked Cyborg in the chest as he charged, putting a large dent in him as he flew back.

"This is boring and not working, children. If you really want to make a stand, make it interesting. Why don't you all attack me at once?"

"As you wish."

The Shimmer lashed against the Lord's back, throwing him forward, right into a punch from Cyborg, which sent him back into a kick from Wonder Girl. The Lord flipped and landed, and then another arrow struck him, the tip exploding and covering his body with sticky goo. The Lord took a step and found his movement extremely inhibited, as Young Justice charged in again.

"Very well."

Robin was there first, swinging his fist at the Lord, and then the Lord's body suddenly disintegrated, solid form becoming swirling black mist. The goo fell on the ground, as the Lord reformed his body from shadow, his arm now clutching Robin's.

He punched Robin across the face, ducked under a punch from Superboy as he flew in from behind and kicked him in the chest, spun around and smashed Empress away from him, and then started blocking rapidly as Impulse attacked him, throwing so many blows it was like he was fending off three separate attackers. Impulse broke through the Lord's guard and punched him several dozen times at high speed before a massive blast of force threw him backwards. A Birdarang and Batarang slammed into the Lord's forehead, throwing him backwards. Wonder Girl and Superboy grabbed him by the arms, but the Lord twisted, throwing his body upward and kicking the attacking Robin and Batgirl in the face even as he twirled and threw Superboy and Wondergirl into Savior and Cyborg. Secret materialized and rammed a fist that turned into a wall of spikes into him, and as he flew back Arrowette fired another arrow at him. But the Lord turned on a dime, grabbed the arrow in mid-air and threw it into Secret. It exploded and the girl recoiled with a scream. A Starbolt and telepathic bolt slammed into his back, and the Lord grimaced, but as he turned around Beast Boy leapt onto the Lord's back as a monkey and then turned into a gorilla, driving the Lord down. But the Lord's form transformed into black mist again and wafted up, re-appearing on top of Beast Boy as he landed, Then the Lord dove forward, grabbing Beast Boy with his legs and flipping him over him into Cyborg, knocking the robot into the air, his sonic blast flying harmlessly into the sky.

"HAH-AH!" Robin yelled as he attacked again, throwing several small metal discs at the Lord. They slammed into him, but the Lord barely seemed to notice as Robin pressed the attack with his staff.

The Lord grabbed the staff and flipped Robin over him, driving his body into the ground. As sand sprayed up, the Lord pulled the staff from Robin's hands.

"Let me show you how to use this." He said, as he twirled it.

Starfire flew in, Starbolts blazing past the Lord. He swung and smacked her into the ground, and then twirled away and swung the staff low, tripping Arrowette, Empress, Savior, and Batgirl as they swarmed around him. He spun and sliced the staff up, knocking Wonder Girl out of the sky, and then he spun again and hit Cyborg with a giant home run swing, smashing another large dent in his chest as he flew backwards again.

Beams of intense heat exploded against the Lord's side, courtesy of Superboy, and as he recoiled Raven's energy seized the staff and tossed it back to Robin, and then Secret re-appeared above him and transformed her body into a weight that she smashed down on the Lord. She dispersed, but as the Lord flipped up Beast Boy rammed into him as a triceratops, smashing him backwards. The Lord stopped his tumbling abruptly, and then Impulse hit him roughly 8523 times before Raven smashed a huge chunk of stone she had ripped off a nearby cliff down onto him.

For a moment, the desert was quiet.

The rock exploded, pelting the group with debris as the Lord flew up.

"Enough." He said, holding out his hand. His katana flew to him.

No sooner was it in his grip then Wonder Girl attacked. She flew right through the Lord as he turned into black mist, but she turned on a dime and flew back as the Lord reformed. He dodged away from her second attack as well, drawing back his black arm as energy claws exploded on it.

"Black Swan Reaper!"

Wonder Girl turned into the blow, the terrible claws slashing across her and knocking her from the sky with a scream of pain. Smirking, the Lord turned and then an arrow impaled on his chest. The point wasn't barbed, but what was attached to the arrow was no less dangerous as electricity surged through the shaft and into the Lord. The power crackled on him, but the Lord just looked annoyed before he grabbed the arrow and pulled it out.

"That was 200,000 volts and he just shook it off like it was a light itch." Arrowette said in some fear.

"Let's see him shake THIS off." Cyborg said, as his chest snapped open and he fired his mini-missiles. The projectiles flew in and exploded on the Lord, briefly lighting the dark desert as bright as day.

A pause.

And then the Lord flew out of the explosion, sword drawn back, heading for Cyborg.

"MOVE!" Cyborg yelled, shoving Arrowette aside. His right arm converted into his sonic cannon and his right arm into his machine gun as Cyborg aimed at the Lord.

"EAT THIS MOTHERFUCKER!" Cyborg yelled, opening fire. The Lord weathered the bullets and the sonic blasts, not slowing down until he reached Cyborg.

"Calamity Drive!"

The Lord's sword slashed out, slicing Cyborg. Cyborg screamed, as the Lord turned on a dime and did a zig-zag motion, doing an even more vicious slice against Cyborg's back, throwing him into the air. But Cyborg didn't get to go far as the Lord snapped backwards again and slashed Cyborg again, and once more in a second zig-zag motion. Finally, the Lord stopped and flew up above Cyborg before he thrust down, stabbing the sword through Cyborg's chest and driving him back down into the ground with a scream. Pinned like an insect, Cyborg could only groan as the Lord raised his right hand, a black point of power glowing on his finger.

Then an arrow impaled through the Lord's head. And this was no gimmick arrow: this was a lethal one with a barbed point fired with an expert's eye. And it flew true, slicing through the side of the Lord's head and impaling deep into his skull.

The Lord stopped, blinked, and then with a look of annoyance, looked over to Arrowette as he calmly reached up and yanked the arrow out. He didn't even bleed. Arrowette gaped, and then the Lord aimed his finger at her. A small burst of black energy flew out and struck Arrowette in the chest, sending her flying and tumbling backwards with a cry.

"Now where were we…" the Lord said as he looked back down at Cyborg.

Starbolts exploded against his chest. The Lord was knocked back, and growled as he clutched his chest, smoke sifting from between his fingers. Starfire flew in with a kick, but he dodged it. Starfire turned as the still standing Titans, joined by Empress and Batgirl, charged at the Lord.

The Lord swung at them with his blade, and the group scattered to dodge the insane range of his sword. He dashed forward, slicing at Raven, and Savior predictably tried to protect her. The Lord blasted him across the desert for that folly, and then got crushed as the other Titans surrounded him and pounced.

"Ravage Outbreak!"

Fire exploded from the ground around the Lord, throwing all his attackers backwards. The Lord smirked.

"Anything you can do Sephiroth, I can do better. And speaking of which…"

Robin was already back on the attack. The Lord dodged his kick and smacked him with an open palm, and then with insane speed blurred over to Batgirl and did the same thing. Beast Boy was putting out a small fire on his arm (he thought he would be done with fire after Sizzle had died) when the Lord flew over and did the same to him. Beast Boy's eyes went wide as the Lord dashed away. A giant black bolt flew at the Lord, fired by Raven, but the Lord suddenly exploded into a swirl of black feathers, of all things, and disappeared. Raven blinked and then the Lord swirled back into existence some distance away.

"Sin Harvest…" he said as he raised his hand. Robin had recovered his staff and was starting a new attack when he noticed what appeared to be a black halo forming above his head. He saw the same thing appearing over Batgirl's and Beast Boy's head, and he swiped at it, not sure what to do. A Shimmer lashed at the Lord, but he flew up to dodge it as he snapped his fingers.

A jolt exploded through Robin, and then it was as if all his muscles went dead. He collapsed (and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Batgirl and Beast Boy fall too), all of his energy gone, absolutely nothing left. Indeed, he didn't even have enough to pull his face out of the sand, and he began to suffocate…at least until Starfire flew over and pulled him out.

Raven appeared near the Lord's side and kicked him. She disappeared into the shadows to dodge his sword swipe and re-appeared to kick him again. However, she tried one more time and that was going to the well one too many times as the Lord grabbed her foot and threw her down. Savior caught her, but the Lord just laughed as he flew up.

"This one comes right from your father, Raven!" The Lord yelled as his cloak flared out and then ripped off of him. New shadows flowed from the Lord's shoulders as the previous ones expanded into roughly dagger like shapes…that were all the size of an eighteen-wheeler.

"From Trigon to you! RAVEN SLAYER!" The Lord yelled, and thrust his hand down. The giant daggers of energy flew down and the ground erupted with explosions, everything within a square mile going up in the flames. The Lord smirked, pleased.

Superboy rammed into him from the side, pushing the Lord out and then slamming his fist into him. The Lord went blasting through the air, crashing through a rock face. He stopped and then Superboy flew out of the wreckage and collided with him via his shoulder, ramming him through another rock face. His eyes glowed and then beams of intense heat blasted out, striking the Lord at point-blank range and sending him flying back. He growled, trying to deflect the beams. But he couldn't. Annoyed, the Lord turned into mist, and the beams blitzed through him before the Lord reformed above Superboy. But he took too long and Superboy flew up, smashing the Lord high into the sky with an uppercut, and then zipped up above him, laced his hands together, and smashed the Lord back down into the ground, the impact leaving a twenty-foot crater.

Superboy flew down, never stopping, zipping around so he couldn't be caught by surprise, heat vision recharged and at the ready.

And he was still caught by surprise when the Lord appeared behind him a swirl of shadows and black feathers.

"Million Knives." He said.

Superboy turned and suddenly suffered double vision, and then triple, quadruple, and so on as the Lord split off into copies of himself. It was so quick that before Superboy knew it, roughly 40 Lords surrounded him.

And they were not feeling merciful, as one zapped by, slashing him with his sword. Now, Superboy being Superboy, that wasn't so bad. Neither was the one after it, or the one after it, but before he could get out matters quickly grew bad, as the Lords zapped around Superboy in a storm of blades, the swords ripping apart his jacket and causing him to do the weird jerking dance people do when they suffer a whole bunch of hard impacts in a short span of time. The blows eventually stopped, but Superboy could only grasp that all the Lords had formed a square shape around him again before they held out their hands and the attack started all over again, this time with blasts. Superboy screamed as he was barraged by thousands of energy blasts, even as the Lord clones slid across the ground and back into the Lord. Finally there was just one Lord again, standing in front of Superboy.

With a big-ass energy blast charged. It zapped from the Lord's hand, striking the Teen of Steel. The explosion blew smoke around for hundreds of feet as Superboy flew backwards at nearly Impulse like speeds before he was buried in another cliff face, which collapsed on him.

And speaking of Impulse, no sooner had the Lord turned around then he was there.

"Say hello to my little friends!" he said, and suddenly there were six Impulses: the original and five new ones composed of an orangish energy. "Let me show you how to use clones!"

And the Impulse Speed Force clones attacked, blitzing around the Lord and hitting him with punches, kicks, handfuls of thrown sand, and the like. The Lord found himself doing his own jerky impact dance as he suffered the clone's onslaught, and every time he recovered enough for a sword slash or an energy blast the clones dodged it with ease. The Lord tried another Ravage Outbreak, but the clones ran away from the flame eruption and then ran back and started pounding on the Lord again.

And then it went from bad to worse, as Secret swirled up and then formed into a gas cloud around the Lord, her body as poisonous as she could make it. For all the things the Lord had survived, he still apparently had to breath (or hadn't figured out how to stop breathing yet), and he gasped for air, even as the Impulse clones continued to pound him.

And for the first time in a long time, the Lord experienced a strong emotion. He got angry.

And he expressed it with a scream, as he exploded in misty tendrils and black feathers again. Secret reformed into her human shape again as the Lord left.

"That's right, run!" Impulse said.

He shouldn't have.

The Lord appeared high up in the night sky, holding his sword above his head. The black blade crackled with dark purple energy,

"DIMENSION SEIZE!"

And the Lord slashed the sword down. The energy that flew off the sword acted as if a giant lightsaber had just slashed the planet Earth. Impulse and Secret could only watch in shock as the whole sky filled with destructive power.

And then the attack struck the ground. The whole continent of Africa shook at the impact, and giant plumes of smoke and sand were thrown into the air, some of it even reaching the Lord's high perch. He waited until the smoke had cleared before he flew down.

From the sky, a giant swath had been cut across the Sahara: a 75-foot long 12 foot deep gorge filled with broken glass fused from the sand. It went on and on, stretching far off into the distance and perhaps all the way to the edge of the Sahara and beyond.

The Lord looked at what his power had done. Amazing. He had scarred a planet.

So why were these bloody kids causing him such a headache?

Well, no matter, surely he had…

Out of the smoke strode a figure. The Lord cocked his head.

Savior appeared out of the smoke, walking with a stride of a man who refused to show fear, or whose mind had snapped and gone beyond the point of fear. He walked up until he was five feet from the Lord.

(In case you were wondering, Secret and Impulse survived the Dimension Seize attack, but not uninjured. Secret's gaseous state made her less prone to physical injuries, but she hadn't been as fast as Impulse in her retreat and had been nailed pretty hard regardless, and now she was down and nearly out. Impulse had fared better and worse: he himself had escaped the attack, but one of his clones hadn't. And Impulse experienced everything his clones did, and nothing could quite explain the experience of feeling yourself disintegrate when you still somehow existed, and Impulse was now some distance away, curled up in a fetal ball, whimpering)

The two looked at each other for a time, and then Savior spoke.

"We are still here."

His hand snapped out, and the Shimmer extracted, forming into a sword. A second later black energy encased it, and The Lord's eyes widened as Raven appeared out of the shadows as well, holding one hand up as she shielded the Shimmer with her power. The Lord chuckled again, and twirled his blade.

"Not for long."

Savior attacked, and the Lord blocked his slash and fired an energy blast at Savior. Savior dodged aside, flipping over the Lord, and slashed again, but found his attack blocked. The Lord spun and backhanded Savior, but Shimmer strands caught him and he spun on them, kicking the Lord across the face. The Lord did an upward slash, which was blocked, and spun from that into a sideways disemboweling strike…which was also blocked. Savior reformed his one sword into two and slashed at the Lord with an X shape, but the Lord dodged aside, slammed his sword down on the makeshift blades, and punched Savior across the face. Savior staggered back as the Lord pulled his blade back to impale him…

Only to find a staff blocking his strike, a staff that then lanced out and rammed into his gut. It wasn't Robin: it was Empress. Growling, the Lord pulled back his sword.

"Stop." Empress said, as she glared at him, striking him with some kind of telekinesis that stopped the Lord dead. It wasn't powerful enough to affect him for long, but it worked long enough for her to ram the end of her weapon into his face, but as the Lord tumbled back he thrust his feet up, knocking Empress back. He leapt back to his feet and slashed, but Empress dodged as she reached into her costume and pulled a dagger from somewhere in the folds, blocking the Lord's follow up attack with it. A second later the Shimmer flew out and smacked the Lord across the face, and then grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.

Robin dashed out of the smoke, pole-vaulting on his staff and ramming his foot into the Lord's face. The Lord growled and shifted back into his black mist form, but no sooner did he reform then Savior, Robin, and Empress all attacked him. The Lord's blade met their weapons, and the three clashed for several seconds before Wonder Girl flew out of the smoke beside the Lord and kicked him in the face so hard it sounded like a gunshot. The Lord flew across the land scar he had made and came to a stop on the other side.

Wonder Girl pressed her attack, dodging a swarm of blasts the Lord fired out of his hand, ramming her fists into his stomach, then grabbing him and kneeing him in the face. She ducked a slash and stole a page from the Lord's book as she balanced on her hands and slammed her feet into the Lord. The Lord flew back, stopped, growled, and raised his hands…

A Starbolt hit him in the face, and he was thrown off his feet. He didn't get up, but instead reached up and touched his burned face in shock.

More Starbolts flew out of the smoke, and the Lord finally moved away, flying into the sky.

And right into the lashing tail of a brontosaurus. The Lord flew back into the sky, but not under his own power this time.

"Thanks for healing that weakened state he put me in Rae, that was VERY satisfying." Beast Boy said.

More Starbolts exploded against the Lord, as Starfire flew at him, smashing her fist across his face while he tried to recover. The Lord finally gave in and teleported away, re-appearing as Starfire turned around, her hands glowing as she charged up more energy.

And Robin, down on the ground, himself healed by Raven, finally had an idea why. Starfire drew the power for her Starbolts from solar energy absorbed through her alien physiology. The Lord claimed to now be one with the night, and what made the night go away but…

"STAR! KEEP IT UP!"

"That is fully my INTENTION!" Starfire yelled, barraging the Lord again. The Lord actually yelled in pain that time, and he slashed at Starfire, throwing a black blade of energy at her, but she dodged with ease and blasted the Lord with a twin-hand charged Starbolt. The Lord flew back into the eager fists of Wonder Girl, who smashed him across the sky, where he met the even more eager fist of Superboy, recovered and mad as hell. Superboy followed the punch with more heat beams blasting from his eyes, and the Lord recoiled from the also solar powered attack. Beast Boy flew up as a griffin, and Raven floated up as well as Starfire blew the Lord away with more Starbolts. Burned, and angered once more, the Lord stopped.

"ENOUGH!" he screamed, tossing the sword he had somehow managed to hold onto the whole time above him. Black balls of energy exploded around his hands, spiraling around his wrists like protons on an atom.

"CARNAGE ANTHEM!"

The Lord fired out the balls, dozens of them flying out. The flyers dodged them, but Raven sensed something bad.

The balls stopped.

And then energy lines flew from them, and suddenly the five flyers found themselves locked in an energy cage prison. The Lord's eyes blazed black, and he brought his hands up.

The only one Raven could reach in time was Beast Boy, as she grabbed him and warped out.

The sound the balls made as the Lord slammed his hands together WAS almost musical as they glowed…and then they exploded. All the ground bound teenagers were thrown to the sand and pounded by great force as explosions rocked the sky. Smoking limp bodies, three of them, came crashing down to Earth.

"STAR! STAR! DAMN YOUUUUUUU!" Robin screamed, failing to learn from history as he charged at the Lord again, who had floated down onto the ground after his Carnage Anthem attack. He didn't even make it to the Lord this time, as a bolt of force blasted him off his feet.

"I just crushed the best your team had to offer. Did you really think that…"

Batgirl swung out and slammed her foot across the Lord's face. The Lord staggered and slashed in retaliation, but Batgirl ducked under it and pistoned her palm out, nailing a perfect strike that struck the Lord in a part of his body that still had somewhat human reactions: his solar plexus, in which several major nerve endings were placed. The Lord staggered back, in pain that for the first time that wasn't caused by a Starbolt or heat vision.

"It's not who has the power. Its how you choose to use it." Batgirl said.

Beams blasted from the Lord's eyes, burning a hole in Batgirl's cape as she barely dodged. Then Secret swirled out of the sand and smashed into the Lord with a wrecking ball shape. The Lord flipped in mid air and got the business end of a Stegosaurus tail. Even as he stopped in mid-air again after being flung off the tail, the holes healing up, Cyborg made his grand return as he ran beside Robin, the two leaping and perfectly meshing their sonic cannon and explosive disc into a Sonic Boom that blasted the Lord and threw him to the ground. As soon as he landed, an arrow stuck in the sand next to him and exploded in the Lord's face, sending him tumbling backwards across the sand.

The Lord got up, and then several boulders slammed into him, propelled by Raven's power. No sooner did the Lord stagger away from that then he turned into a combination attack from Empress's staff and Savior's Shimmer. He spun away from THAT into a combined thrust kick from Robin and Batgirl, sending him tumbling across the sand again.

Raven, in the meantime, had warped over to Arrowette, who was trying to help Impulse, who was still down and still whimpering.

"Can you heal him?" Arrowette asked. Raven gave the teenage speedster a once over.

"It's not a wound I can fix. He needs to…"

"ARGHHHHH!" The Lord screamed, as he leapt into the air. The stars directly above him glowed, and then formed into a X-esque shape as he raised his hands, as if he had the power to command the formation of new constellations.

"GRAND CROSS!" he yelled, and slammed his hands down. The X blast of power that had formed above him flew down, having just formed below the stars but still very deadly as it detonated amongst the teenagers. They vanished in the explosion. Grinning crazily, the Lord flew down.

"This battle is pointless children! The future is now, and it is inevitable!"

"How kind for you to finally admit you're losing."

Missiles exploded against the Lord, and he flew backwards into a Shimmer bludgeon. The Lord rolled across the ground and got up to get a combined explosive/freeze disc attack that was even more violent when the two elements combined and caused a vicious reaction. An arrow exploded into six mini-arrows and impaled into the Lord's side, and then a Batarang slammed into his forehead. The weapons turned to ash, but they were no longer the last attack as Robin, Savior, Empress, and Batgirl leapt in and smashed the Lord with physical attacks. He slashed at them, but as they dodged beams of intense heat blasted the Lord's back again. The Lord twirled and swiped behind him, but Superboy wasn't there. Instead, he had flown in FRONT of the Lord, and as the Lord turned and slashed again at the Teen of Steel, slicing the sword downward to cut Superboy in two, the hero reared up and grabbed the blade with his hands, and with a sudden gleam in his eye the sword exploded into shards of metal. Wonder Girl suddenly appeared at Superboy's side, and the two reared back and struck the Lord with their combined best punch, shattering the Lord's crown. The Lord flew backwards, and as he did Starfire flew up, a giant Starbolt blazing above her, and threw it down onto the Lord. The explosion shook the desert, even as the Lord flew backwards through a cliff face, exploding out the other end and finally coming to a stop half a mile away.

Raven took Arrowette and Impulse via teleportation as Young Justice converged on where the Lord was laying. He slowly got up, looking at all the children who surrounded him.

"So, still think your murderous vision is the truth?" Robin said.

"Always." The Lord said.

"Then I guess we'll have to beat you right into the ground." Robin said.

"No…" The Lord said. "You children have proven wily, cunning, and strong, but it ends here. Since you dare stand against the ultimate manifestation of darkness, I shall show you the true face of what you dare defy, and it will be more then you can handle!"

The Lord set his legs, crossed his arms, and suddenly intense waves of force exploded off of him, throwing Young Justice backwards before they could stop him.

"Come children! Look upon your doom! Look upon the greatest darkness there is, a black so deep and powerful that even light cannot escape it!"

"What's he doing now?' Superboy yelled over to Robin.

"I don't…wait…" Robin said as he thought over what the Lord has last said, and then his blood ran as cold as ice.

"NO! HE CAN'T!" Robin yelled.

"Child, I AM THE LORD OF THE NIGHT! ALL DARKNESS IS WITHIN MY POWER, THE LAWS OF PHYSICS BE DAMNED!"

"What's he DOING?" Savior yelled.

"He's forming a black hole!" Robin yelled back. Young Justice made the appropriate noises of shock and horror at that possibility.

"WHAT? LORD, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Savior yelled, even as the Lord floated up and the intense waves of force coming from him grew stronger. "YOU CAN'T MAKE A BLACK HOLE! YOU'LL DESTROY THE WHOLE PLANET!"

"If I wanted a proper black hole, yes. But this won't be a stellar sized one, oh no! This will be a small one, one that will be on this planet for a very short length of time. It won't destroy my world, but I'm sure as hell certain it will destroy YOU." The Lord said, and threw his head back, clouds of darkness swirling around, on, and through him as he called upon all his power.

Young Justice attacked with everything they had, but nothing reached the Lord: it all vanished on the waves of darkness swirling around him.

"What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?" Beast Boy panicked.

"Nothing! The only one who could get you away in time is the child at your feet, and he appears to be suffering from some kind of crisis!" The Lord laughed, indicating Impulse.

"Impulse, wake up! Snap out of it! We need you!" Superboy said. But Impulse was still locked in his fugue.

"We have to get away! Now!" Wonder Girl said.

"There's no way we can outrun something like that! We need a plan, fast, or we're all dead!" Robin said.

Raven suddenly appeared at Savior's side, startling him. Had she walked over? He hadn't sensed it.

"Guys we have to GO!" Beast Boy wailed.

"TOO LATE!" The Lord yelled. Young Justice looked at him, but he did not look at them, his eyes focused on the intense ball of black floating above him.

"Bravo Justice, and bravo Titans. You have represented all I see in humanity, all the potential brought to use, and all the great things that redeem this species. When this world is mine, I will have it weep on your graves."

The Lord slammed his hand down.

"NOW DIE! BLACK HOLE!"

The ball flew down. That was not the black hole, but rather the final stages of its summoning, as the ball pierced the sand and buried into the ground, as the orb shrank and shrank and the power built and built.

And suddenly, as all the laws of science wept, a black hole existed on planet Earth.

And despite its name, the entire world was suddenly consumed in white. All destroying, all consuming white.

The end is near…

The game is over…

The end is here…

To Be Concluded


	34. Justice: The Harsh Light Of Day

Chapter 34: The Harsh Light of Day

_"In order to obtain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd."_

Miguel de Unamuno

Normally created when a star burns out and collapses into its own being, the Lord of the Night had tapped the deepest powers of his dark godhood to manifest a black hole on Earth, one that appeared a hundred feet below the surface of the planet, in the wastes of the Sahara Desert.

It was but the size of an atom, and it existed only for a tenth of a second, but this tiny piece of matter possessed the gravity of a red giant, a star 10x the size of our sun, supercondensed into an area the size of an area 1000x smaller then a pin.

By conventional physics, this should have been utterly impossible. Black holes created by collapsing red giants should have been the size of the Earth itself. Mini black holes have been proven to exist, but they would have been created by something containing the mass equivalent of the Earth, not a red giant. The idea of a black hole being so powerful and yet so small would have any scientist laughing their heads off.

But yet, this black hole, called not into existence by a collapsing star but by the whim of an evil god, did somehow exist. Its creation defied all the laws of physics. But physics were fully in control for the very brief time it existed.

The intense gravity lashed out, as vicious as all the gods and devils in all creation myths ever recorded combined, so intense it tore the sand and everything else surrounding it for miles and miles into its component atoms. At the same time it emitted beams of radiation, heat, and X-Rays many times greater then our star could pump out, and our sun was 93 million miles away, while this black hole was right on the Earth.

Tidal waves were called into existence immediately by the super-intense gravity, swamping major costal cities. Or at least that would have been the case had the other heroes of Earth not been on alert, waiting for the battle in the Sahara to settle itself before they went in. 

Never had so much destruction been visited by so small an object. But the heroes of earth responded admirably, bringing all their powers, skills, and bravery to bear as they saved countless lives.

But as the black hole came and went in a time even shorter then an eye blink, the lives that mattered the most seemed to have truly, utterly ceased to exist.

They had defied the night.

And the night had destroyed them.

The light faded, here and there in an instant, but the power summoned was obvious.

Where the Lord had placed the hole, a crater now stood: two miles deep and nearly fifteen miles across. And on and on for nearly 100 square miles were fields of glass, all life destroyed, all rock disintegrated, and all sand fused into a brilliant span of dirty crystal that reflected the stars. It was beautiful, and the quiet was total.

The Lord lowered himself into the crater. Success. Though it had gone badly. The black hole had nearly destroyed HIM as well. But its job had been accomplished: those who had opposed him were gone. All that was left was the endless field of glass that was now in the middle of the Sahara desert.

The Lord landed, and slumped over, breathing deeply. It had taken far more exertion then he had expected to defeat those blasted kids. He had underestimated them, but he wouldn't do the same with the rest of the Earth's guardians. They would all fall. For he was one with the night, and it granted him power beyond all others.

And the Earth and the future were…

And then something moved at his feet. The Lord arched an eyebrow.

Then his eyes went as wide as they could, as for the first time, perhaps ever, he gazed in complete and utter shock at what he was seeing.

It was a mirror. A floating mirror. That would have been odd enough, but the fact that there was a mirror right where the black hole had existed when everything for dozens of miles around had been blasted and cooked to nothingness was absolutely, utterly stupefying.

The Lord stared at the mirror, unable to believe it, as it floated away. And then it glowed. The Lord, his eyes having been hurt by the intense luminescence of the black hole, covered them against this new light.

He thought he had been shocked before, but when he lowered his hand, the Lord found he could become even more so. His jaw dropped. His eyes almost bugged out of his head. And he was, despite all his power, completely and utterly at a loss.

For there stood Young Justice. All of them. Still banged up from the intense war they had raged with him, but there nonetheless. Impulse had even gotten back up, having managed to recover from his shock at last.

And at the front was Raven, holding her mirror.

"No….no…" The Lord whispered. "It's…impossible…you can't have…there's no way…"

"Much like you breaking every law of physics by making a black hole?" Raven said. "Silly Lord. He thinks he knows everything, and yet he knows nothing in the end. He thinks the laws of physics govern _all of reality. Silly boy."_

"How did you…?"

"Escape? You gave me the idea yourself. Or actually, Savior here did when he yelled that you were out of your mind. I knew we could never escape from your attack via normal means…but strange means just happened to be within our power. Or perhaps more accurately, my power. You see, with this, we can go into my mind. It was simple to warp back to what you left of our building and mentally pull it from the wreckage. My mind is more then just a brain, you see. It is, by the nature of my birthright, a separate dimension as well. A dimension your power couldn't touch. And you were so busy looking at your attack you didn't even notice us escaping into it."

"BUT HOW IN THE HELL DID THE MIRROR SURVIVE!!??!? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BLASTED INTO NOTHING, LEAVING YOU TRAPPED! HOW THE HELL DOES IT STILL EXIST?!??!?!" The Lord screamed.

"Because you didn't hit it the right way."

The Lord gaped, dumbfounded.

"Like I said, you seem to think the laws of physics are absolute. Fool. You used dark magic to grant you your power. Part of that darkness stems from my father. You should have known that physics are not all there is in this reality, and you should have known that the attack you were using…there was no magic in it. Summoning a black hole may break most of the laws of physics, but the laws of physics are still where it is conceived. And for all the damage those laws, and their reactions, can do…they can't harm this mirror. This mirror isn't physical. It's magic itself. Spells woven by my grandmother and my home into solid form. A form that can't be affected by gravity or radiation. Hence, it remained untouched. And so did we. For all your effort, you failed. And THAT, my dear Lord, is the truth."

The Lord still couldn't believe it. On most levels it made absolutely no sense. But on a certain level, it did.

The animal level. The primitive, superstitious sense that assigned gods to everything when they couldn't be explained. Things that should have been properly explained when mankind's cerebral cortex finally evolved enough to study it properly…

Except there were times when animal instinct, animal superstition, was correct. And sometimes the way things seemed to be just didn't apply.

Like a magic mirror that could not be harmed by a black hole. Part of humans would defy that as impossibility…and the other part might just confess it made a queer sense to them.

Perhaps mankind was not so special because they could be above animals. Perhaps they were sometimes special because despite that ability, they were STILL animals.

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled.

"JUSTICE, CHARGE!" Superboy echoed.

Explosions and the sounds of blows filled the crater, and then the Lord flew out. But the teenage superheroes were on his tail, and a Starbolt blew him back into the ground, glass shattering as he landed and bounced along it. Impulse ran in, hit the Lord roughly 12639 times, and then ran back as all the Titans attacked him, the assault throwing him across the landscape again. He was met by Young Justice on the other end, who blasted him with fists, weapons, projectiles, and even a kitchen sink that came out of an arrow. Ok, I made that last one up.

The Lord fell, not rising, as the Teen Titans and Young Justice gathered around him. From him, laughter bubbled.

"Ok, he's totally cracked now." Beast Boy said.

"No. Like I said before Titans…" the Lord said as he got up. "Humans are VERY bad at remembering the past. And one of you should have remembered something. You, Savior."

Everyone looked at Savior, who looked confused.

"The same mistake you made with the blood, children! That is, always, ALWAYS, have a plan for everything. Including…" the Lord yelled, as he stood up, power blazing on his hands "ONE FINAL TRUMP CARD SHOULD THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPEN!"

And the Lord thrust his hands up, and suddenly a black ball of power formed above his head, a ball the size of a building.

"ANNIHILATION MAELSTROM!"

And blasts of power began spraying from the ball. And not even the speedster Impulse was fast enough to get away.

Explosions consumed the Titans, Justice, and everything for several miles around the Lord and his foes, and then the ball flew down and one final explosion shook the Sahara again, pluming black smoke and glass shards high into the air. The boom was so loud some people heard it around the world.

Then there was quiet.

The Lord strode out of the smoke. He sighed, and reformed his broken crown. Perhaps this was not humanity's final night after all. He was severely drained, and he needed to go and draw more power from the darkness. That and plan for the battles to come. But the future was still…

Robin walked out of the dust.

The Lord stopped dead.

Well, walking may have been generous. Robin more accurately staggered out of the dust. His outfit was ripped to shreds, his mask gone. His right arm hung limp at his side, and he dragged his left leg as he walked.

But. He. Was. Still. There.

And as the dust cleared, and the Lord looked around in shock, he saw that that miracle was not a miracle but just one example being repeated all around him. True, some of the teenagers were down and not getting up, but the Lord could sense their vital signs. Weak, but still there. Alive.

And some were still on their feet. Despite all their hideous wounds, they were still coming.

But, as the Lord's shock faded, it was a futile knee-jerk effort. Even as he thought that, Wonder Girl, her top completely gone but her mind not even thinking of modesty, fell on her face. Cyborg had tried to get up and literally fallen apart. It looked like Beast Boy had suffered a deep abdominal wound. Even Superboy was down, and he didn't look like he was getting up.

Raven, staggering, not much left of her cloak but tatters, was still coming though. And her damn lover. And it looked like Arrowette was looking for her bow, which actually lay smashed to splinters several feet away from her.

"So…you want to keep fighting still?" The Lord said, addressing the question to Robin. Robin, the mask taking away from his ability to glare, tried anyway…and then a look of total helplessness came over him.

"No…"

And then Robin fell to his knees.

"We can't. You're too strong. We surrender."

"No…" Raven said, and then to her great shock Savior fell to his knees as well.

"Yes. We're done. Spare us. We will serve you gratefully if you do."

"Noel…you don't mean…" Raven said. Savior glanced to his side. Most of his hair had been burned away.

"You can't surrender to him. That will be going against all that…I love in you."

"Well then…I guess our relationship is over Raven."

Raven's eyes went wide, and then filled with tears.

"But…why…"

"Because I want to live. That damn animalistic desire to survive."

"You should listen to him." The Lord said. "Rejecting you to live. How VERY human."

Raven blinked, tears running down her cheeks.

"But pointless."

Robin, his eyes until then on the ground, looked up.

"But…"

"You opposed me Titans. You AND your friends. You stood in the way of the future. Those who do so…they always wind up crushed by history. And so must you. You opposed me. So you must die. Whether you want to serve me or not…"

Robin blinked.

"Then…before I die…may I have a last request? Only an animal would kill immediately."

The Lord thought it over.

"Very well. Go ahead."

"All I want to say…is that you are still in error. You cannot save humanity. You are dooming it."

"But getting rid of all the bad things? By bringing this planet to paradise?"

"Yes. If…when you do that…you won't be doing that to humanity. Because humanity won't exist."

The Lord cocked his head.

"We humans…we are not meant to be perfect. We are all given incredible potential, but very few of us are meant to tap it as well as you desire us too. We are meant to be flawed, and for many terrible things to happen due to those flaws. That is who we are. It's who will we always be. The day the human race stops doing that…is the day there is no more human race. And that does not mean we will destroy each other. It just means we will no longer…be what we are. You cannot save humanity, Lord. Humanity, inevitably, is doomed to death or ascension. And when it happens…we will be gone. You cannot give humans paradise. We are not meant to have it. And that, Lord, is the truth that I think you will ultimately have to swallow."

"Oh really?" the Lord said, as dark power glowed on his hand. "Well, thank you for those last words Robin. When my utopia is complete, I will mount them on a plaque to show my world how foolish the old one was."

The Lord raised his hand, pointing his finger at Robin. "And how it was doomed. Much…like…you…"

The Lord's voice trailed off as he looked down, and Raven was suddenly aware of a light sizzling noise.

It was a beam of light, focused on the Lord's hand. And it was acting like a mild acid. More confused then hurt, the Lord stared at it.

"No Lord, I think much like the rest of your beliefs, you have it all wrong." Robin said.

By now, most of the heroes had managed to get up, as Robin got off his knees and looked past the Lord. The Lord turned, and even as he saw what Robin saw, he heard Robin behind him.

"It was in my head ever since I noticed how Starfire's bolts seemed to really bother you, but I didn't realize exactly why until recently. The spell you performed to unite with the night…you said it was so old that needed pieces of it no longer existed. So you sought to replace those parts with pieces from us. And you did, and the ritual was a success. But…I don't think it was a complete success."

And on the horizon, the sun began to rise, the bright light reflecting off the miles of glass the Titans and Justice were standing on.

"I think the spell was flawed due to the replacement. And I finally figured out the flaw. You united with darkness…and hence did you gain darkness' weakness."

The beams intensified as they washed fully over the Lord, and he suddenly groaned and looked at his hands. They were smoking. So was his whole body. He turned and looked at Robin, who grinned viciously.

"So be it, Lord of the Night. Time for YOU to learn a harsh, needed truth. And that is, the shadows, the black, the darkness, no matter how deep, no matter how powerful…they all are destroyed by the harsh light of day."

And the Lord knew he was right, as he looked around at all the superheroes, as he looked down at himself, as the sun rose fully, focused by all the glass and striking him with an intensity he could never muster, as beams of black light began to pour from within him, his eyes swung over to Savior, as the white-haired teenager got to his feet, looking at the Lord.

"Consider this a message from a world that does not want you or need you, a future that is ours to decide, and from every child standing here whom you disrespected, injured, and underestimated. **_YOU LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!_"**

And as the power poured from within him, as the sun shone its light down and slowly burned him away, the Lord threw back his head and laughed, a loud mad laugh of a broken mind and a soul that knows it has been vanquished. And as the Titans gathered around Robin, The Lord turned, even as he broke apart, and raised his hand in a semi-salute.

And then he exploded into a thousand strands of shadow, shadow that wafted apart and vanished.

Nightfall.

"There…how do you feel Beast Boy?" Raven said as she completed her healing.

"Much better. Thanks Rae! But how are YOU feeling? You had to do a lot of work here." Beast Boy said, rubbing his healed stomach.

"I'll live." Raven said, as she looked around at the gathered teens. "We all will. Thanks to all your help. We saved the day."

"And we at last have a new team to aid us in our missions!" Starfire said happily. Superboy sweatdropped.

"Look guys, I know I was considering putting my own group together, but if this is the crap you deal with I am beginning to have second thoughts."

"Fine then. We'll take all the credit." Robin said, smirking.

"I hereby announce the official formation of Young Justice!" Superboy yelled. Then he laughed and he and Robin shook hands.

"Don't be a stranger."

"Same with you."

And then the rest of them were gone, either flying or carried off by Impulse in the blink of an eye.

"You know, this is becoming real tiresome." Cyborg said where he was tied on Robin's back, his legs destroyed.

"Oh my friends, it was long and hard and very painful, but we have done a great thing here! We, with our teamwork and refusal to give up, vanquished a villain of great power and evil! Joy! We won!" Starfire said, as the Titans joined their hands and Raven teleported them away.

And reappeared in the midst of Jump City. Specifically, on top of one of the higher buildings.

And they finally saw the burning ruins of what had been their town, huge swaths of destruction carved by the Lord, and even in the distance, they could see their island, still smoking, their home totally destroyed.

"Yeah. We won." Robin said grimly. "Hooray."

It finally ended roughly twelve hours later.

Having dealt with the planetary effects of the black hole, other superheroes quickly arrived at Jump City. After dealing the Lord all by themselves, the older heroes were all too happy (and on one level, shamed they couldn't before) to help the Titans try and help their city. And there was a lot to do, as massive groups of metahumans and lots of emergency government troops sent by President Luther did their best in rescue efforts, looting, and cleaning up. But despite all the good they did, the body count kept climbing. Robin stopped keeping track when it hit 50,000. He didn't want to know any more.

It wasn't until then that the Titans finally got a moment to themselves, and all their faces were as grim as Robin's. They had seen too much horror in the past day. If any of them had any innocence left by now, it was long dead.

"Guys, I wanted to speak to you because I think we should disband."

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

"This isn't right. We're teenagers…we may have special powers or abilities greater then mortal men…but we shouldn't have to deal with this. The terrible side of humanity. The one that drove the Lord to do this. We shouldn't…"

"No Robin. You have it all wrong." Starfire said. Robin glanced over to his girlfriend, his love. Her eyes were wise. No longer innocent. It saddened him all the more.

"Now, more then ever, we have to stay. We have to keep the Teen Titans alive. Not just to repair our city. But because we are needed. We are not part of any disease. Rather, we can help curb and cure the disease out there, the disease that the Lord was so sick with. If society doesn't have us, the ones who fight for it, no matter how flawed and bad it may be…then we may as well give it over to the Lords of the world."

"If anyone says "With great power comes great responsibility", I'm gonna smack them." Beast Boy said.

"Starfire is right." Raven said. "I remember something the Lord said in our first meeting…he said society had to be purged…or it would keep making people like him. And while this life…it brings pain, and misery, and torment…I can't imagine a life without that. But I can imagine a life if we don't make a stand. And quite frankly, I don't want it."

"Same here." Savior said.

"I ain't quitting." Beast Boy said.

"Hello no, I won't go." Cyborg said.

"I will stay with this team until the bitter end." Starfire said.

Robin cocked an eyebrow, and then he actually allowed himself a smile.

"Yeah. I was wrong. I forgot. After all this shit…we're still the good guys."

"And damn are we GOOD!" Cyborg said.

Raven had wandered off to the edge of the building. As the Titans allowed themselves some laughter and happiness, Savior joined her.

"I'm sorry about that little display with the Lord. I KNEW Robin wouldn't give up, so when he did I suspected he had a plan. So I played along. And he did. He kept the Lord occupied for the last few minutes before the sun rose. What I said to you was bullshit."

"No…it was true."

Noel's eyes widened, as Raven turned to look at him.

"Part of it was. You desire to survive is deeper then your love on some level. But I don't care. I love you Noel. I love you even if you are flawed, and even if you do bad and stupid and vicious and cruel things. In the end you're just human. What we need to do is go on and overcome our flaws…go on despite our flaws. Robin said in best. We aren't meant to live in paradise."

Raven slipped into Noel's arms.

"But maybe…we can just touch it."

Their lips met.

Starfire glanced over, and then she pointed before she started jumping up and down, clapping her hands. Robin smirked.

"Why should HE get all the fun?" Robin muttered, and then grabbed Starfire and kissed her as well.

"Well, about bloody time." Cyborg said.

"Wait wait wait a minute, I'm confused. Noel and Raven…like each other?" Beast Boy said.

"Dude, haven't you been paying attention the past several months?"

"Well, uh…aw man!" Beast Boy said, sulking. He had kind of liked Raven too, and Noel had managed to succeed. It stuck in his craw.

Well, that was life. Into all sunshine a little rain must fall.

"Don't worry man, you still got me." Cyborg said, putting his hand around Beast Boy's shoulder.

"Dude, you're not gay, are you?"

"Despite what many many fanfic authors write, no."

"Ah good! Buddy!" Beast Boy said, putting his arm around Cyborg's shoulders.

"Yep, till the end. Even though you stink and can't see the marvelousness of meat."

"Hey, let's see if you still like meat after I take a chomp out of you!"

CLANK!

"OW!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Ha ha, you bit a metal part!"

And despite all the chaos in the background, Noel and Raven only knew each other.

To Be Concluded


	35. Epilogue: Child's Play

Epilogue: Child's Play

Several months later…

"To us." Tim Drake said, raising a glass.

"To us." Replied Victor Stone, Gar Logan, Kory Anders, Noel Collins, and Raven, as they raised glasses filled with wine (Robin had allowed an exception, JUST THIS ONCE).

It had been a lot of hard work and even more heartbreak, but the Titans were finally done. Jump City was repaired and rebuilt, and though therapists and psychiatrists probably had enough business to last into the next millennium, Jump City seemed to be recovering from the horrors of the Final Night, as the papers had dubbed the Lord's rampage.

The T-Tower was back, better then ever, and all things had been replaced and improved thanks to a generous grant from the Wayne Foundation for having defeated the Lord.

And perhaps best of all, crime was down. Way down. Perhaps the fact that the Lord had destroyed the prison had something to do with it, but perhaps also it may have been humans finally getting a hint that their bad deeds could have serious consequences. Whatever the reason, Robin was certain it wouldn't last. Humans were humans, after all.

In any case, the Titans were treating themselves to a night out. Robin had finally perfected the hologram devices, and hence Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy looked as human as anyone in the room. Discarding their costumes for suits and ties (though Beast Boy's endless complaining had nearly made them let him come here in his underwear, for all they cared), the Titans were enjoying a night where they weren't superheroes, but teenagers.

"Man, one thing I wanna know, if this restaurant is so good, then why are the breadsticks so hard?" Gar Logan complained, trying to gnaw the end off of one. "Maybe we should carbon date them!"

"Plus, can anyone tell just what they are serving? This entire menu is in French!" Victor said. "Maybe I'll have this." He said, pointing.

"I don't think you wanna eat that." Noel said.

"Why? What is it?"

Noel leaned over and whispered in Victor's ear. Victor turned green.

"Aw man, why couldn't we have come here in costume! I bet they would have made us cheeseburgers then!" Victor complained.

"Yes, and we'd get hounded for autographs, and women would throw themselves at us…well, myself and Noel anyway." Tim chuckled. "OW! Kory, did you just kick me?"

Kory looked innocent.

"Right. In any case, I just want a night where we don't have a stop a crime, or beat a bad guy, or save the world. I just want a night where we can just be ourselves."

Ah, yes, a night where the Titans can just be themselves.

This will not do at all.

"HM MPH MPH HM!"

The Titans looked up.

"What was that?"

"HM MPH MPH HM!" repeated the muffled yell, and then a man stomped into the room.

He just seemed perfect for the situation, in a weird opposite irony kind of way. He was fat and bald, though it was hard to tell due the weird metal mask he wore over his face. He wore a dirty tank top under a strange apron, and jeans for his pants. On his back was strapped something the Titans couldn't make out.

"MH HMMPHH MH!" The man yelled. The patrons of the fancy restaurant were looking at this man in confusion, and finally he made a noise of frustration and flipped the mask up.

"I SAID NOBODY MOVE!" the man yelled. He was ugly as well as being fat and bald, and the patrons finally reacted in fear as this unpleasant man walked in and yelled at him.

"Who are you?" one of the patrons asked. The man grinned, as this was his big moment, and pulled the device he had on his back off. It appeared to be some kind of blowtorch.

"I AM…THE WELDER!" The man yelled. At their table, the Titans simultaneously had their jaws drop and the urge to burst out into laughter wake up and be repressed.

"The Welder…wait, wasn't that one of the suggestions Victor and Gar made while they were playing that game the day Noel joined?" Kory said.

"Good god, HE EXISTS." Victor said in shock.

"Man, maybe there's a Purple Man running around somewhere too…" Beast Boy muttered.

"Now, I am interested in the basics. Cash, and whatever shiny objects I can pawn off! And you'd better listen, or…" the Welder said as he flipped the helmet down again. "Hmmpphh mpphmmm hmmm pmh hm!"

"What?"

"Mwargh!" the Welder said under his helmet, flipping it back up. "I will weld you! Don't look at the flame, it WILL damage your eyes!"

And the Welder flipped the mask down again and turned on the torch. All the nearby patrons recoiled. The Welder turned it off and flipped his mask back up.

"Ok, hand it over!"

"Ho Boy…what say you Titans…" Tim said.

"I think considering what I've seen, I think we can take him down without even leaving the table." Noel replied, as the Welder began robbing people, gesturing at them with his torch if they resisted.

"Agreed. He doesn't strike me as much of a threat…but the key is, can we take him down without getting up or giving a clue that we are the Titans? You don't have your mask on Tim: people could draw a connection." Raven said.

"Yes…but people are looking at him…so let's see…" Tim said. He carefully twisted his arm and a Birdarang fell into his palm.

"Man, do you ALWAYS have one of those?" Victor said.

"Yep…ok…" Tim said as he cocked the weapon in his hand. The Welder drew close, relieving some rich people of their possessions.

"No one's looking Tim now!" Raven hissed.

Tim threw the Birdarang.

"WHOA! IS THIS REAL!" The Welder said, ducking his head to look at a diamond ring an old woman had. The Birdarang flew over his head, through an open door a bus boy happened to be going through, bounced off a wall, and landed in a cooking pot. Later that night, a man would complain his pheasant was far too tough.

"Ah dammit! That was my only one!" Tim cursed. "Now what?"

"Hey Noel, haven't you been training to use the Shimmer in your non-Savior form?" Gar asked. Noel looked nervous.

"Well yes, but it is VERY hard…"

"I'll be impressed." Raven said.

Noel immediately closed his eyes, concentrated, and the Shimmer slipped from his palm and down to the floor. He'd trip the Welder, and the moron would hopefully fall on his face and knock himself out.

"Right, all in the bag!" The Welder said as more rich people gave him their things, even as the Shimmer slid over the floor. "Man, what a great haul! And no one to horn in! It makes me happy!" The Welder said, as he started skipping, taking a few bouncy steps that went right over the Shimmer. Noel grunted and withdrew the strand.

"Sorry guys. I can't do that again, and transforming will draw attention." Noel said, noting the giant flash of light.

"Ok Kory…think you can nail him with a Starbolt?" Tim said.

"Without drawing attention? It will be difficult, but I will try…" Kory said, covering one finger with her hand as she focused a golf ball sized Starbolt on her other finger. The Welder had moved back down the row and was near the back again.

"No one's looking again, now Star!" Raven whispered. Starfire aimed and fired.

"Oh, a nickel!" The Welder said.

The Starbolt flew over his back as the Welder bent to pick up the coin, lighting up a Cherry Jubilee that had been left nearby. The Welder looked up at it.

"Man, you rich people sure are wasteful! Good food and you're burning it!"

The Welder's sentence kept him from seeing all the Titans facevaulting behind him.

"Ok…I guess we're gonna have to get up…shall one of us raise a ruckus or…" Gar said as he pushed a breadstick around on the table.

"I guess…wait Gar, what did you say about those breadsticks?" Raven said.

"They're as stale as your Dad, as in stale as hell…" Gar trailed as Raven snatched the breadstick. A slight smile came to her face.

"Azarath Metrion…"

"Yes! Ok, I'll just go rob those kids and then take off! At last I succeed in a robbery!" The Welder said, and turned around.

A Raven propelled breadstick nailed him right between the eyes, and he stumbled back and then fell over as his eyes rolled back into his head, knocked cold.

"See, I told you the breadsticks were too hard." Gar said.

* * *

"Ah, stopping a wacko with a piece of welding equipment. Mere child's play for a bunch of Teen Titans." Cyborg said. The Titans had eaten and left, turning off their hologram generators and getting back into costume.

"Yep, we ARE good." Beast Boy said.

"So, shall we patrol tonight or go home?" Starfire asked.

"Let's go home, one "supervillian" is enough for…" Robin said.

A giant plume of smoke appeared on the roof, and as the Titans recoiled slightly, it cleared as the Amazing Mumbo stepped out.

"Oh man…why…why…why…" Robin muttered.

"TITANS!" Mumbo said. "I have figured it out at last! I have left my wand at home, but I have devised redundant remote controls so I can use it from here! Now you'll NEVER beat me!" Mumbo crowed.

"I say seven minutes." Robin said.

"Two here." Beast Boy said.

"I say we can beat him in twenty seconds…hey where's Savior and Raven?" Cyborg said.

"I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count. We can do this by ourselves." Robin said.

"Joy! A battle against a villain who only desires to beat us and not kill us, eat us, choke us, or destroy us and our civilization! How refreshing!" Starfire said. Mumbo looked confused.

"Is your battery fully charged this time Cyborg?" Beast Boy asked as they move in.

"Oh shut up!"

"I will win this time Titans! Now for my first trick…" Mumbo said as he waved his hand. Nothing happened. "What's going on! Why am I not defeating you?"

"Possibly because my systems are jamming the signal you were using to remote control your wand." Cyborg said, smirking.

"But…you…I…ah nosenuggets." Mumbo said.

The beating was less severe then Mumbo expected. After all they had seen, Mumbo really wasn't so bad.

* * *

Noel had always mixed in some blue with his Savior costumes, but tonight it was finally a perfect white: all white down to his boots. Raven was in her usual, and the two danced along the rooftops holding hands. Well, floated and Shimmer-sprang along the rooftops anyway.

They finally stopped above a nightclub, which was filled to the brim. Loud music pulsed from the roof. Normally it would annoy Raven, but somehow it seemed right.

"The youth are getting back to normal. This city is getting back to normal. I thought it would never happen." Raven said.

"We humans are a resilient species." Savior said, slipping his arms around Raven's waist. She leaned back against him, closing her eyes.

"Do you think he was right though? In some way?" Raven asked.

"All people are right in some way in their claims. The Lord, ironically, said it best. Life is not black and white. Nothing is. But it's up to us to make sure that the shades of grey remain distinct as well. If not, they all become the same…and we lose any uniqueness we have. No absolutes, no sameness. It's not a bad way to live, sometimes." Savior said.

Raven turned back around to face Noel.

"Kiss me."

And the man known as Savior, Noel Alexander Collins, did so, and the two embraced under a full moon as they shared one of the bright things about humans and heroes.

The music swelled under them, as Noel broke the kiss.

"Care to dance?"

Raven nodded, and Noel took her hand, and under the moon they spun and twirled and laughed and loved.

* * *

(And we closed with Evanescence, or at least we did in the original version. Now all we get is)

The End.

And so ends Black and White. It's funny how some things turn out. And perhaps it is time for some shocking revelations.

The name's Legend Maker. I like to write. So does my older brother, and he is also a fanfiction writer on this site, though he asked me not to give out his name. But it is obvious to the few people who know that we are related: my brother got me into writing and taught me everything I know, and hence our styles tend to be very similar.

And my brother also created a character named Noel Collins, aka Savior.

And my brother also refused, for four days straight, to stop singing "TEEN TITANS!" after he found out I liked the show and he saw the opening. And believe me, if you think Puffy Amiyumi are annoying, you should hear my brother trying to do an impression of them. I told him to stop, he would not.

So, I took REVENGE!

You see, he had clearly marked Savior to be a totally original character. Not any comic universe, but just a normal world where a man suddenly finds he has great powers. My brother's take on the whole superhero mythos and how it might work in real life. But he would not stop singing TEEN TITANS! Well brother, you asked for it!

So I took up my keyboard and started writing. Black and White was only meant to be three chapters. Then I would present it to my brother and laugh. Ha ha, your character is in a TT fanfic!

So I did that.

And the damn bastard liked it.

And hence this happened. For you see, I found writing this fun, and after my brother read the first three chapters, he suggested that this would be a good place to "test out" some of the other characters he created.

Yes, my thievery goes on. While I did all the writing, my brother did the ideas. He created Killjoy, Aberration, and Asphyxiation. The only one I can really lay credit to is the Lord of the Night, and even then not really. You see, I was still ticked he wasn't mad, so I changed plans. I took another one of his original characters, and basically projected him through a prism, distorting the character so he changed from a somewhat insane anti-hero to a totally insane villain. If some people have figured out who my brother is, you can probably guess which character of his I modified/parodied/ripped off to make the Lord. That worked, somewhat, so I topped it by taking three of his other characters and warping THEM to create Murdercrow, Sizzle, and Shadowmaster. Mission succeeded, I annoyed my brother! And in the process wrote a fairly good fanfic.

Well, this story is over, but I will return to the Teen Titans with Savior. I have some other ideas, which will appear in my new fanfic Wings of the Eagles, and Savior impressed enough people so that they stole him for their fanfics (just kidding! But remember, Savior was created by MY brother, and he has a copyright on him and all his characters, so don't be trying any thievery! I barely got away with it and I'm his sister!). If you want another "real" continuance, I STRONGLY suggest you read Bobcat's "The Epic of Gauntlet", which is a basic continuance of this story and introduces more new characters, villains, and a lot more fun then my gloom and doom writings.

So that's it, it's over. I am Legend Maker, and remember…

T-E-E-N

T-I-T-A-N-S!

Teen Titans, LET'S GO!


End file.
